It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.

They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.

Posterity for the philosopher is what the other world is for the religious man.

In general, children, like men, and men, like children, prefer entertainment to education.

Does not vanity itself cease to be blamable, is it not even ennobled, when it is directed to laudable objects, when it confines itself to prompting us to great and generous actions?

Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful.

We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.