We need not have the loftiest mind to understand that here is no lasting and real satisfaction, that our pleasures are only vanity, that our evils are infinite, and, lastly, that death, which threatens us every moment, must infallibly place us within a few years under the dreadful necessity of being forever either annihilated or unhappy.

When a soldier complains of his hard life (or a labourer, etc.) try giving him nothing to do.

To scorn philosophy is truly to philosophize.

Christian piety annihilates the egoism of the heart; worldly politeness veils and represses it.

Fashion is a tyrant from which nothing frees us. We must suit ourselves to its fantastic tastes. But being compelled to live under its foolish laws, the wise man is never the first to follow, nor the last to keep it.

Look for the truth, it wants to be found.

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