Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

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.

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.

The proper study of a wise man is not how to die but how to live.

The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature.

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 endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.