However vast a man's spiritual resources, he is capable of but one great passion.

The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.

God only pours out his light into the mind after having subdued the rebellion of the will by an altogether heavenly gentleness which charms and wins it.

We should seek the truth without hesitation; and, if we refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more than the search for truth.

If god does not exist, one loses nothing by believing in him anyway, while if he does exist, one stands to lose everything by not believing.

The mind has its arrangement; it proceeds from principles to demonstrations. The heart has a different mode of proceeding.