Sex endows the individual with a dumb and powerful instinct, which carries his body and soul continually towards another, makes it one of the dearest employments of his life to select and pursue a companion, and joins to possession the keenest pleasure, to rivalry the fiercest rage, and to solicitude an eternal melancholy. What more could be needed to suffuse the world with the deepest meaning and beauty?

At best, the true philosopher can fulfil his mission very imperfectly, which is to pilot himself, or at most a few voluntary companions who may find themselves in the same boat.

Heaven is to be at peace with things.

Wisdom lies in taking everything with good humor and a grain of salt.

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men's minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them

Wisdom comes from disillusionment.