Hatred which is completely vanquished by love passes into love: and love is thereupon greater than if hatred had not preceded it.

It may easily come to pass that a vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.

Nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than another's; but under nature everything belongs to all.

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

A free man, who lives among ignorant people, tries as much as he can to refuse their benefits. .. He who lives under the guidance of reason endeavours as much as possible to repay his fellow's hatred, rage, contempt, etc. with love and nobleness.

It is sure that those are most desirous of honour or glory who cry out loudest of its abuse and the vanity of the world.

The terms good and bad indicate no positive quality in things regarded in themselves, but are merely modes of thinking or notions, which we form from the comparison of things one with another. Thus one and the same thing can be at the same time good, bad, and indifferent. For instance, music is good for him that is melancholy, bad for him that mourns; for him that is deaf; it is neither good nor bad.