Clever people are never credited with their follies: what a deprivation of human rights!

What was formerly merely sickly now becomes indecent : it is indecent to be a Christian today.

Society tames the wolf into a dog. And man is the most domesticated animal of all.

The love of indulgence is rooted in the depths of a man's heart. His soul would prefer to share the excessive and unrestrained; but his soul cannot love.

The humanity of famous intellectuals lies in being wrong with gracious courtesy when dealing with those who are not famous.

With the unknown, one is confronted with danger, discomfort, and care; the first instinct is to abolish these painful states. First principle: any explanation is better than none. . . . The causal instinct is thus conditional upon, and excited by, the feeling of fear. The "why?" shall, if at all possible, not give the cause for its own sake so much as for a particular kind of cause -- a cause that is comforting, liberating, and relieving.

Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.