Nothing is so important to man as his own state; nothing is so formidable to him as eternity. And thus it is unnatural that thereshould be men indifferent to the loss of their existence and to the perils of everlasting suffering.

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

To call a king "Prince" is pleasing, because it diminishes his rank.

That a religion may be true, it must have knowledge of our nature.

Mutual cheating is the foundation of society.

Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known.

What a chimaera then is man, what a novelty, what a monster, what chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, yet an imbecile earthworm; depository of truth, yet a sewer of uncertainty and error; pride and refuse of the universe. Who shall resolve this tangle?