It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are unjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. Therefore it isnecessary to tell them at the same time that they must obey them because they are laws, just as they must obey superiors, not because they are just, but because they are superiors. In this way all sedition is prevented.

Nothing fortifies scepticism more than that there are some who are not sceptics; if all were so, they would be wrong.

There is nothing so insupportable to man as to be in entire repose, without passion, occupation, amusement, or application. Then it is that he feels his own nothingness, isolation, insignificance, dependent nature, powerless, emptiness. Immediately there issue from his soul ennui, sadness, chagrin, vexation, despair.

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

Without [diversion] we would be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us on to seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us unconsciously to death.

Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little, since I do them with your power; And little things as though they were great, since I do them in your name!

All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room.