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

If we regulate our conduct according to our own convictions, we may safely disregard the praise or censure of others.

I do not admire a virtue like valour when it is pushed to excess, if I do not see at the same time the excess of the opposite virtue, as one does in Epaminondas, who displayed extreme valour and extreme benevolence. For otherwise it is not an ascent, but a fall. We do not display our greatness by placing ourselves at one extremity, but rather by being at both at the same time, and filling up the whole of the space between them.

All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions.... This is the motive of every act of every man, including those who go and hang themselves.

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

Excuse me, pray." Without that excuse I would not have known there was anything amiss.

Let us now speak according to natural lights. If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible. . . . We are then incapable of knowing of either what He is or if He is. . . .