False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders them kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared.

I never listen to calumnies, because if they are untrue I run the risk of being deceived, and if they be true, of hating persons not worth thinking about.

What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.

As soon as man enters into a state of society he loses the sense of his weakness; equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.

The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little injury as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.

I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was impossible for me to execute myself

A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight.