I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.

To give aid to every poor man is far beyond the reach and power of every man. Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.

The greater emotion with which we conceive a loved object to be affected toward us, the greater will be our complacency.

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.

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

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.

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