Man seeks to learn, and man kills himself because of the loss of cohesion in his religious society; he does not kill himself because of his learning. It is certainly not the learning he acquires that disorganizes religion; but the desire for knowledge wakens because religion becomes disorganized.

One does not advance when one walks toward no goal, or - which is the same thing - when his goal is infinity.

That men have an interest in knowing the world which surrounds them, and consequently that their reflection should have been applied to it at an early date, is something that everyone will readily admit.

When morals are sufficient, law is unnecessary; when morals are insufficient, law is unenforceable.

Man is a moral being, only because he lives in society. Let all social life disappear and morality will disappear with it.

To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness.

Irrespective of any external, regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.