To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.

The only substance properly so called is the soul.

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.

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.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind, and therefore independence of all social, political or religious prejudice... It loves one thing only... truth.

Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.