It is a good thing to proceed in order and to establish propositions. This is the way to gain ground and to progress with certainty.

For, above all, I hold a notion of possibility and necessity according to which there are some things that are possible, but yet not necessary, and which do not really exist. From this it follows that a reason that always forces a free mind to choose one thing over another (whether that reason derives from the perfection of a thing, as it does in God, or from our imperfection) does not eliminate our freedom.

In my judgment an organic machine new to nature never arises, since it always contains an infinity of organs so that it can express, in its own way, the whole universe; indeed, it always contains all past and present times.

The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.

But in simple substances the influence of one monad over another is ideal only.

The words 'Here you can find perfect peace' can be written only over the gates of a cemetery.

He who hasn't tasted bitter things hasn't earned sweet things.