It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.

It seems to me that if one had kept silence up to now regarding religion, people would still be submerged in the most grotesque and dangerous superstition ... regarding government, we would still be groaning under the bonds of feudal government ... regarding morals, we would still be having to learn what is virtue and what is vice. To forbid all these discussions, the only ones worthy of occupying a good mind, is to perpetuate the reign of ignorance and barbarism.

Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.

For me, my thoughts are my prostitutes.

Philosophy is as far separated from impiety as religion is from fanaticism.

The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre

I picture the vast realm of the sciences as an immense landscape scattered with patches of dark and light. The goal towards which we must work is either to extend the boundaries of the patches of light, or to increase their number. One of these tasks falls to the creative genius; the other requires a sort of sagacity combined with perfectionism.