No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. Chance is the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.

It is only the poor who pay cash, and that not from virtue, but because they are refused credit.

Change is the essence of life.

I ought not to fear to survive my own people so long as there are men in the world; for there are always some whom one can love.

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

For a man’s life would become intolerable, if he knew what was going to happen to him. He would be made aware of future evils, and would suffer their agonies in advance, while he would get no joy of present blessings since he would know how they would end. Ignorance is the necessary condition of human happiness, and it has to be admitted that on the whole mankind observes that condition well. We are almost entirely ignorant of ourselves; absolutely of others. In ignorance, we find our bliss; in illusions, our happiness.

The power of love itself weakens and gradually becomes lost with age, like all the other energies of man.