All mankind's troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly.

Description of man: dependence, longing for independence, need.

[On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed.

Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.

There are two types of mind . . . the mathematical, and what might be called the intuitive. The former arrives at its views slowly, but they are firm and rigid; the latter is endowed with greater flexibility and applies itself simultaneously to the diverse lovable parts of that which it loves.

It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.

The entire ocean is affected by a single pebble.