NINON DE L'ENCLOS

A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them.

If God had to give a woman wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet.

The joy of the mind is the measure of its strength.

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.

Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.

Love never dies of starvation, but often of indigestion.

The resistance of a woman is not always a proof of her virtue, but more frequently of her experience.

Men lose more conquests by their own awkwardness than by any virtue in the woman.

Old age is a woman's hell.

It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness.

The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them.

Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don't see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.

Feminine virtue is nothing but a convenient masculine invention.

Every action we take, everything we do, is either a victory or defeat in the struggle to become what we want to be.

A sensible woman should be guided by her head when taking a husband, and by her heart when taking a lover.

The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell.

Words really flattering are not those which we prepare but those which escape us unthinkingly.

Fair is not fair, but that which pleaseth.

There is a certain time of life, when we value a good stomach more than the mind.

What is death, after all? We leave only mortals behind us.

There are other things besides beauty with which to captivate the hearts of men. The Italians have a saying: "Fair is not fair, but that which pleaseth.