The miser puts his gold pieces into a coffer; but as soon as the coffer is closed, it is as if it were empty.

With each book you write you should lose the admirers you gained with the previous one.

Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.

They establish distinctions and reserves which I cannot apply to myself, for I exist only as a whole; my only claim is to be natural, and the pleasure I feel in an action, I take as a sign that I ought to do it.

The individual never asserts himself more than when he forgets himself.

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.

Wisdom comes not from reason but from love.