There are plenty of maxims in the world; all that remains is to apply them.

That queen, of error, whom we call fancy and opinion, is the more deceitful because she does not always deceive. She would be the infallible rule of truth if she were the infallible rule of falsehood; but being only most frequently in error, she gives no evidence of her real quality, for she marks with the same character both that which is true and that which is false.

It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.

I have spent much time in the study of the abstract sciences; but the paucity of persons with whom you can communicate on such subjects disgusted me with them. When I began to study man, I saw that these abstract sciences are not suited to him, and that in diving into them, I wandered farther from my real object than those who knew them not, and I forgave them for not having attended to these things. I expected then, however, that I should find some companions in the study of man, since it was so specifically a duty. I was in error. There are fewer students of man than of geometry.

All the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.

He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.

All man's troubles come from not knowing how to sit still in one room.