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

The heart has its order, the mind has its own, which uses principles and demonstrations. The heart has a different one. We do not prove that we ought to be loved by setting out in order the causes of love; that would be absurd.

I am in the utmost perplexity, yand have wished a hundred times, that if there is a A God, nature would manifest him without ambiguity, and that if there is not, every imaginary sign of his existence might vanish : in short, let nature speak distinctly, or be totally silent, and I shall know what course to take.

When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.

Vanity is illustrated in the cause and effect of love, as in the case of Cleopatra.

What are our natural principles but principles of custom?

All I know is that I must soon die, but what I know least is this very death which I cannot escape.