All the miseries of mankind come from one thing, not knowing how to remain alone.

No soul of high estate can take pleasure in slander. It betrays a weakness.

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.

Silence. All human unhappiness comes from not knowing how to stay quietly in a room.

Religion is so great a thing that it is right that those who will not take the trouble to seek it if it be obscure, should be deprived of it.

Man is clearly made to think. It is his whole dignity and his whole merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought. And the order of thought is to begin with ourselves, and with our Author and our end.

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