If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?

Now, if the passions had no hold on us, a week and a hundred years would amount to the same.

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.

Force rules the world-not opinion; but it is opinion that makes use of force.

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.