Though a man excels in everything, unless he has been a lover his life is lonely, and he may be likened to a jewelled cup which can contain no wine.

If a love is to be unforgettable, fortuities must immediately start fluttering down to it like birds to Francis of Assisi's shoulder.

Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).

Time, which strengthens friendship, weakens love.

We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.

In love deceit nearly always goes further than mistrust.

Love, all agreeable as it is, charms more by the fashion in which it displays itself, than by its own true merit.

Sometimes we are less unhappy in being deceived by those we love, than in being undeceived by them.

The restraints we impose on ourselves to refrain from loving are often more cruel than the severities of our beloved.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.