Death itself is less painful when it comes upon us unawares than the bare contemplation of it, even when danger is far distant.

All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions.... This is the motive of every act of every man, including those who go and hang themselves.

Civil wars are the greatest of evils. They are inevitable, if we wish to reward merit, for all will say that they are meritorious.

Montaigne is wrong in declaring that custom ought to be followed simply because it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just.

Those we call the ancients were really new in everything.

Our senses perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders ourview. Too great length and too great brevity of discourse tends to obscurity; too much truth is paralyzing.... In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.

If it is an extraordinary blindness to live without investigating what we are, it is a terrible one to live an evil life, while believing in God