To what excesses do men rush for the sake of religion, of whose truth they are so little persuaded, and to whose precepts they pay so little regard!

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.

You think him to be your dupe; if he feigns to be so who is the greater dupe, he or you?

Duty is what goes most against the grain, because in doing that we do only what we are strictly obliged to, and are seldom much praised for it.

No road is to long for him who advances slowly and does not hurry and no attainment is beyond his reach who equips himself with patience to achieve it

A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.

We wish to constitute all the happiness, or, if that cannot be, the misery of the one we love.