The germs of all things are in every heart, and the greatest criminals as well as the greatest heroes are but different modes of ourselves.

Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.

The philosopher is like a man fasting in the midst of universal intoxication. He alone perceives the illusion of which all creatures are the willing playthings; he is less duped than his neighbor by his own nature. He judges more sanely, he sees things as they are. It is in this that his liberty consists - in the ability to see clearly and soberly, in the power of mental record.

Righteous ends, thus approved, absolve of guilt the most violent means.

The immense majority of our species are candidates for humanity, and nothing more.

Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin.

For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.