Man can acquire accomplishments or he can become an animal, whichever he wants. God makes the animals, man makes himself.

Ambition and suspicion always go together.

It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.

One of the greatest creations of the human mind is the art of reviewing books without having read them.

The most entertaining surface on earth is the human face.

God created man in His own image, says the Bible; philosophers reverse the process: they create God in theirs.

I ceased in the year 1764 to believe that one can convince one’s opponents with arguments printed in books. It is not to do that, therefore, that I have taken up my pen, but merely so as to annoy them, and to bestow strength and courage on those on our own side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us.