Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious.

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.

Philosophy has no end in view save truth; faith looks for nothing but obedience and piety.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak.

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

The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and with the specious title of religion to cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.

The safest way for a state is to lay down the rule that religion is comprised solely in the exercise of charity and justice, and that the rights of rulers in sacred, no less than in secular matters, should merely have to do with actions, but that every man should think what he likes and say what he thinks.