At Genoa, the word Liberty may be read over the front of the prisons and on the chains of the galley-slaves. This application of the device is good and just. It is indeed only malefactors of all estates who prevent the citizen from being free. In the country in which all such men were in the galleys, the most perfect liberty would be enjoyed.

Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.

In all the ills that befall us, we are more concerned by the intention than the result. A tile that falls off a roof may injure us more seriously, but it will not wound us so deeply as a stone thrown deliberately by a malevolent hand. The blow may miss, but the intention always strikes home.

It is a mania shared by philosophers of all ages to deny what exists and to explain what does not exist.

Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.

O love, if I regret the age when one savors you, it is not for the hour of pleasure, but for the one that follows it.

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.