Eloquence is a way of saying things in such a way, first, that those to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure, and second, that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflection upon it.

Evil is easy, and has infinite forms.

We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.

The last advance of reason is to recognize that it is surpassed by innumerable things; it is feeble if it cannot realize that.

Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.

If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust, weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?

Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.