If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.

The man whose whole activity is diverted to inner meditation becomes insensible to all his surroundings. His passions are mere appearances, being sterile. They are dissipated in futile imaginings, producing nothing external to themselves.

Too cheerful a morality is a loose morality; it is appropriate only to decadent peoples and is found only among them.

Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.

If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.

There is a collective as well as an individual humor inclining peoples to sadness or cheerfulness, making them see things in bright or somber lights. In fact, only society can pass a collective opinion on the value of human life; for this the individual is incompetent.

A mind that questions everything, unless strong enough to bear the weight of its ignorance, risks questioning itself and being engulfed in doubt.