Frequent punishments are always a sign of weakness or laziness on the part of a government.

General abstract truth is the most precious of all blessings; without it, man is blind; it is the eye of reason.

I was not much afraid of punishment, I was only afraid of disgrace.But that I feared more than death, more than crime, more than anything in the world. I should have rejoiced if the earth had swallowed me up and stifled me in the abyss. But my invincible sense of shame prevailed over everything . It was my shame that made me impudent, and the more wickedly I behaved the bolder my fear of confession made me. I saw nothing but the horror of being found out, of being publicly proclaimed, to my face, as a thief, as a liar, and slanderer.

A man speaks of what he knows, a woman of what pleases her: the one requires knowledge, the other taste.

Watch a cat when it enters a room for the first time. It searches and smells about, it is not quiet for a moment, it trusts nothing until it has examined and made acquaintance with everything.

Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves.

A man who is not a fool can rid himself of every folly except vanity.