As nations improve, so do their gods.

The book which most deserved to be banned would be a catalog of banned books.

What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.

The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.

To make astute people believe one is what one is not is, in most cases, harder than actually to become what one wishes to appear.

Man is to be found in reason, God in the passions.

Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don't we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes.