It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.

Unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just.

Piety is different from superstition. To carry piety to the extent of superstition is to destroy it. The heretics reproach us with this superstitious submission. It is doing what they reproach us with.

Human life is thus only an endless illusion. Men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does when we are gone. Society is based on mutual hypocrisy.

Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes one dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each keeps its own place.

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

Any unity which doesn't have its origin in the multitudes is tyranny.