To lead a blameless life you must curb your passions , and whatever misfortune may befall you cannot be ascribed by anyone to want of good luck, or attributed to fate; these words are devoid of sense, and all fault will rightly fall on your own head.

After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.

My errors will point to thinking men the various roads, and will teach them the great art of treading on the brink of the precipice without falling into it.

I often had no scruples about deceiving nitwits and scoundrels and fools when I found it necessary. ...We avenge intelligence when we deceive a fool, and... deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man. What has infused my very blood with an unconquerable hatred of the whole tribe of fools from the day of my birth is that I become a fool myself when I am in their company.

Worthy or not, my life is my subject, and my subject is my life.

I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of introducing it into the minds which were ignorant of its charms.

The philosopher is a person who refuses no pleasures which do not produce greater sorrows, and who knows how to create new ones.