Many errors, of a truth, consist merely in the application of the wrong names of things.

Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods.

Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.

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.

He whose honor depends on the opinion of the mob must day by day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconsistent, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly.

If we love something similar to ourselves, we endeavor, as far as we can, to bring it about that it should love us in return.

No matter how thin you slice it, there will always be two sides.