[On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed.

All men naturally hate one another. I hold it a fact, that if men knew exactly what one says of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.

Montaigne is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.

Man is so made that if he is told often enough that he is a fool he believes it.

We never love a person, but only qualities.

Too much pleasure disagrees with us. Too many concords are annoying in music; too many benefits irritate us; we wish to have the wherewithal to overpay our debts.

The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.