It would be impossible to live for a year without disaster unless one practiced character-reading.

It belongs to a nobleman to weep in an hour of disaster.

When arms speak, the laws are silent.

Why listen to me? I can only predict epidemics and plagues.

To hide and feel guilty would be the beginning of defeat.

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

Once you hear the details of a victory it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.

We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

It’s the end of the world every day, for someone.

All the married heiresses I have known have shipwrecked.

I think we are inexterminable, like flies and bedbugs.

All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural propensities.

Pride and excess bring disaster for man.