I can readily conceive of a man without hands or feet; and I could conceive of him without a head, if experience had not taught me that by this he thinks, Thought then, is the essence of man, and without this we cannot conceive of him.

What a strange vanity painting is; it attracts admiration by resembling the original, we do not admire.

One must have deeper motives and judge everything accordingly, but go on talking like an ordinary person.

Let man reawake and consider what he is compared with the reality of things; regard himself lost in this remote corner of Nature; and from the tiny cell where he lodges, to wit the Universe, weigh at their true worth earth, kingdoms, towns, himself. What is a man face to face with infinity?

The art of subversion, of revolution, is to dislodge established customs by probing down to their origins in order to show how they lack authority and justice.

Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.

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