Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.

The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.

The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.

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

How vain painting is-we admire the realistic depiction of objects which in their original state we don't admire at all.

Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.

It is certain that those who have the living faith in their hearts see at once that all existence is none other than the work of the God whom they adore. But for those in whom this light is extinguished, [if we were to show them our proofs of the existence of God] nothing is more calculated to arouse their contempt. . . .