The happiness of man is: I will. The happiness of woman is: he wills.

The sexes deceive themselves over one another: this happens because fundamentally they honour and love only themselves... Hence man wants woman to be peaceful-but woman, like a cat, is essentially not peaceful, however much she may have practised an appearance of peacefulness.

Stupid as a man, say the women: cowardly as a woman, say the men. Stupidity in a woman is unwomanly.

In revenge and in love, woman is more barbarous than man.

If a woman possesses manly virtues one should run away from her; and if she does not possess them she runs away from herself.

The perfect woman perpetrates literature as she perpetrates a small sin: as an experiment, in passing, glancing around to see whether anybody notices - and to make sure that somebody notices.