The authority of reason is far more imperious than that of a master; for he who disobeys the one is unhappy, but he who disobeys the other is a fool.

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

Everyone, without exception, is searching for happiness.

We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.

I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.

The manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de Tultie wrote, is the most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and the oftener quoted; because it is entirely composed of thoughts born from the common talk of life.

Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.