Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.

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

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

Anyone who takes it upon himself, on his private authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.

Whatever dressing one gives to mushrooms, to whatever sauces our Apiciuses put them, they are not really good but to be sent back to the dungheap where they are born.

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