Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is.

Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapour, a drop of water is enough to kill him. but even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows none of this.

We never love a person, but only qualities.

Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

Those who make antitheses by forcing the sense are like men who make false windows for the sake of symmetry. Their rule is not to speak justly, but to make accurate figures.

Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree.

We run heedlessly into the abyss after putting something in front of us to stop us from seeing it.