We would not let ourselves be burned to death for our opinions: we are not sure enough of them for that.

The purpose of punishment is to improve those who do the punishing--that is the final recourse of those who support punishment.

You implanted your highest goal into the heart of those passions: then they became your virtues and joys.

Over immense periods of time the intellect produced nothing but errors. A few of these proved to be useful and helped to preserve the species: those who hit upon or inherited these had better luck in their struggle for themselves and their progeny. Such erroneous articles of faith... include the following: that there are things, substances, bodies; that a thing is what it appears to be; that our will is free; that what is good for me is also good in itself.

"What is good?" ye ask. To be brave is good. Let the little girls say: "To be good is what is pretty, and at the same time touching."

Spirit is the life that itself cuts into life: with its own torment it increases its own knowledge. Did you already know that?

The great advantage in noble parentage is that enables one to endure poverty more easily.