First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.

I feel, I think, I judge; therefore, a part of organized matter like me is capable of feeling, thinking, and judging.

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

What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.

The enjoyment of freedom which could be exercised without any motivation would be the real hallmark of a maniac.

Shakespeare's fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.

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.