Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

I know whom I have believed.

We have an idea of truth, invincible to all scepticism.

The art of revolutionizing and overturning states is to undermine established customs, by going back to their origin, in order to mark their want of justice.

The war existing between the senses and reason.

Let man reawake and consider what he is compared with the reality of things; regard himself lost in this remote corner of Nature; and from the tiny cell where he lodges, to wit the Universe, weigh at their true worth earth, kingdoms, towns, himself. What is a man face to face with infinity?

It is a dangerous experiment to call in gratitude as an ally to love. Love is a debt which inclination always pays, obligation never.