“He was in touch with scientific developments, contrasted Saint-Simon with Fourier, deciphered hieroglyphics, broke up pebbles to study geology, could draw a silk-worm moth from memory, pointed out errors in the Dictionnaire de l’Académie, studied Puységur and denied nothing, not even the existence of ghosts, browsed in the files of the Moniteur, and meditated.”
“He loved to stroll though meadows of wild flowers and was scarcely less interested in the passage of clouds than in the passage of events… He talked gently, bowed his head, smiled self-consciously, blushed for no reason, was awkward and extremely shy - and, for the rest, fearless.”