Time, matter, space - all, it may be, are no more than a point.

Those authors into whose hands nature has placed a magic wand, with which they no sooner touch us than we forget the unhappiness in life, than the darkness leaves our soul, and we are reconciled to existence, should be placed among the benefactors of the human race.

Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one's fatherland, which is perishable?

I have not the hope of being immortal, because the desire of it has not given me that vanity.

Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.

Scepticism is the first step toward truth.

A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.