To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity. The greatness of the human soul is shown by knowing how to keep within proper bounds. There are two equally dangerous extremes- to shut reason out, and not to let nothing in.

We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

Who knows if this other half of life where we think we're awake is not another sleep a little different from the first.

Thinking too little about things or thinking too much both make us obstinate and fanatical.

Those whom we call ancient were really new in all things, and properly constituted the infancy of mankind.

We need not have the loftiest mind to understand that here is no lasting and real satisfaction, that our pleasures are only vanity, that our evils are infinite, and, lastly, that death, which threatens us every moment, must infallibly place us within a few years under the dreadful necessity of being forever either annihilated or unhappy.