Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion.

Pay bad people with your goodness; fight their hatred with your kindness. Even if you do not achieve a victory over other people, you will conquer yourself.

A man without passion is only a latent force, only a possibility, like a stone waiting for the blow from the iron to give forth sparks.

Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind.

Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.

He who is too much afraid of being duped has lost the power of being magnanimous.

There is only one way of not hating those who do us wrong, and that is by doing them good.