It's not by amusing oneself that one learns.

The heart errs like the head; its errors are not any the less fatal, and we have more trouble getting free of them because of their sweetness.

God, conquered, will become Satan; Satan, conquering, will become God. May the fates spare me this terrible lot; I love the Hell which formed my genius. I love the Earth where I have done some good, if it be possible to do any good in this fearful world where beings live but by rapine.

The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.

Those who have given themselves the most concern about the happiness of peoples have made their neighbors very miserable.

In every well-governed state wealth is a sacred thing; in democracies it is the only sacred thing.

He flattered himself on being a man without any prejudices; and this pretension itself is a very great prejudice.