What makes men happy is liking what they have to do. This is a principle on which society is not founded

There are men whom a happy disposition, a strong desire of glory and esteem, inspire with the same love for justice and virtue which men in general have for riches and honors. But the number of these men is so small that I only mention them in honor of humanity.

To be loved, we should merit but little esteem; all superiority attracts awe and aversion.

Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.

By annihilating desires, you annihilate the mind.

A man who believes that he eats his God we do not call mad; yet, a man who says he is Jesus Christ, we call mad.

Pleasure and pain are the only springs of action in man, and always will be.