As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they once understand themselves the ruling men will be lost.

It is through Christianity that Judaism has really conquered the world. Christianity is the masterpiece of Judaism.

The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.

Morality has been conceived up to the present in a very narrow spirit, as obedience to a law, as inner struggle between opposite laws. As for me, I declare that when I do good I obey no one, I fight no battle and win no victory. The cultivated person has only to follow the delicious incline of his or her inner impulses. Be beautiful and then do at each moment whatever your heart may inspire you to do. This is the whole of morality.

History is as much an art as a science.

Good humor is a philosophic state of mind; it seems to say to nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us.

The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."