Man is more interesting than men. God made him and not them in his image. Each one is more precious than all.

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves!

I believe that in every circumstance I have been able to see rather clearly the most advantageous course I could follow, which is very rarely the one I did follow.

It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.

Every perfect action is accompanied by pleasure. By that you can tell what you ought to do.

A man thinks he owns things, and it is he who is owned

Humanity cherishes its swaddling clothes; but it shall not grow up unless it can free itself from them. Turning down his mother's breast does not make the weaned child ungrateful. ... Rise up naked, valiant; make the sheaths crack; push aside the stakes; to grow straight you need no more than the thrust of your sap and the call of the sun.