Who knows if this other half of life where we think we're awake is not another sleep a little different from the first.

I condemn equally those who choose to praise man, those who choose to condemn him and those who choose to divert themselves, and I can only approve of those who seek with groans.

Man's greatness is great in that he knows himself wretched. A tree does not know itself wretched. It is then being wretched to know oneself wretched; but it is being great to know that one is wretched.

If man were happy, he would be the more so, the less he was diverted, like the saints and God.

Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.

Anyone who found the secret of rejoicing when things go well without being annoyed when they go badly would have found the point.

We must keep our thought secret, and judge everything by it, while talking like the people.