A self-respecting man is a man without a country. A fatherland is birdlime.

There is not much difference between a mortal man and a dying man. The absurdity of making plans is only slightly more obvious in the second case.

The limit of every pain is an even greater pain.

We rightly scorn those who have no made use of their defects, who have not exploited their deficiencies, and have not been enriched by their losses, as we despise any man who does not suffer at being a man or simply at being. Hence no graver insult can be inflicted than to call someone 'happy', no greater flattery than to grant him a 'vein of melancholy'... This is because gaiety is link to no important action and because, except for the mad, no one laughs when he is alone.

Utopia is a mixture of childish rationalism and secularized angelism.

What every man who loves his country hopes for in his inmost heart: the suppression of half his compatriots.

Democracy: a festival of mediocrity.