Sophie Swetchine

Years do not make sages; they only make old men.

— Sophie Swetchine

As we advance in life the circle of our pains enlarges, while that of our pleasures contracts.

— Sophie Swetchine

Where there is a question of economy, I prefer privation.

— Sophie Swetchine

Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?

— Sophie Swetchine

It is a little stream, which flows softly, but freshens everything along its course.

— Sophie Swetchine

We are amused through the intellect, but it is the heart that saves us from ennui.

— Sophie Swetchine

I like people to be saints; but I want them to be first and superlatively honest men.

— Sophie Swetchine

We do not judge men by what they are in themselves, but by what they are relatively to us.

— Sophie Swetchine

Those who make us happy are always thankful to us for being so; their gratitude is the reward of their benefits.

— Sophie Swetchine

I study much, and the more I study, the oftener I go back to those first principles which are so simple that…

— Sophie Swetchine

The root of sanctity is sanity. A man must be healthy before he can be holy. We bathe first, and then perfume.

— Sophie Swetchine

When fresh sorrows have caused us to take some steps in the right way, we may not complain. We have invested in…

— Sophie Swetchine

There is nothing steadfast in life but our memories. We are sure of keeping intact only that which we have lost.

— Sophie Swetchine

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all.

— Sophie Swetchine

When any one tells you that he belongs to no party, you may at any rate be sure that he does not…

— Sophie Swetchine

If it were ever allowable to forget what is due to superiority of rank, it would be when the privileged themselves remember…

— Sophie Swetchine

To have ideas is to gather flowers; to think is to weave them into garlands.

— Sophie Swetchine

We are often prophets to others only because we are our own historians.

— Sophie Swetchine

Our vanity is the constant enemy of our dignity.

— Sophie Swetchine

What is resignation? It is putting God between one's self and one's grief.

— Sophie Swetchine

The inventory of my faith for this lower world is soon made out. I believe in Him who made it.

— Sophie Swetchine

Silence is like nightfall. Objects are lost in it insensibly.

— Sophie Swetchine

The most culpable of the excesses of Liberty is the harm she does herself.

— Sophie Swetchine

True poets, like great artists, have scarcely any childhood, and no old age.

— Sophie Swetchine

We expect everything and are prepared for nothing.

— Sophie Swetchine

Poor humanity!--so dependent, so insignificant, and yet so great.

— Sophie Swetchine

The beings who appear cold, but are only timid, adore where they dare to love.

— Sophie Swetchine

The most dangerous of all flattery is the inferiority of those about us.

— Sophie Swetchine

Kindness causes us to learn, and to forget, many things.

— Sophie Swetchine

Men are always invoking justice; yet it is justice which should make them tremble.

— Sophie Swetchine

Antiquity is a species of aristocracy with which it is not easy to be on visiting terms.

— Sophie Swetchine

Only those faults which we encounter in ourselves are insufferable to us in others.

— Sophie Swetchine

My sole defense against the natural horror which death inspires is to love beyond it.

— Sophie Swetchine

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies.

— Sophie Swetchine

Happiness and Virtue clasp hands and walk together.

— Sophie Swetchine

In this world of change naught which comes stays and naught which goes is lost.

— Sophie Swetchine

We are always looking into the future, but we see only the past.

— Sophie Swetchine

Time is the shower of Danae; each drop is golden.

— Sophie Swetchine

There is, by God's grace, an immeasurable distance between late and too late.

— Sophie Swetchine

We must labor unceasingly to render our piety reasonable, and our reason pious.

— Sophie Swetchine