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.

A donkey appears to me like a horse translated into Dutch.

The fruits of philosophy are the important thing, not the philosophy itself. When we ask the time, we don't want to know how watches are made.

Nothing reveals a man's character better than the kind of joke at which he takes offense.

If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger.

Brevity: To say at once whatever is to be said.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.