Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness... and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient enough to amuse him.

All men have happiness as their object: there is no exception. However different the means they employ, they all aim at the same end.

The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.

Without [diversion] we would be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us on to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to death.

Two things control men's nature, instinct and experience.

Once your soul has been enlarged by a truth, it can never return to its original size.

It is the conduct of God, who disposes all things kindly, to put religion into the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace.