If they [Plato and Aristotle] wrote about politics it was as if to lay down rules for a madhouse. And if they pretended to treat it as something really important it was because they knew that the madmen they were talking to believed themselves to be kings and emperors. They humored these beliefs in order to calm down their madness with as little harm as possible.

A little thing comforts us because a little thing afflicts us.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.

We must know where to doubt, where to feel certain, where to submit. He who does not do so, understands not the force of reason.

I take it as a matter not to be disputed, that if all knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world. This seems proved by the quarrels and disputes caused by the disclosures which are occasionally made.

Instead of complaining that God had hidden himself, you will give Him thanks for having revealed so much of Himself.