I do not presume that I have found the best philosophy, I know that I understand the true philosophy.

So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long as he is determined not to do it; and consequently so long as it is impossible to him that he should do it.

Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.

In proportion as we endeavor to live according to the guidance of reason, shall we strive as much as possible to depend less on hope, to liberate ourselves from fear, to rule fortune, and to direct our actions by the sure counsels of reason.

Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage : for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune : so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

Yet nature cannot be contravened, but preserves a fixed and immutable order.

self-preservation is the primary and only foundation of virtue.