At sixteen, the adolescent knows about suffering because he himself has suffered, but he barely knows that other beings also suffer.

Chemistry... is like the maid occupied with daily civilisation; she is busy with fertilisers, medicines, glass, insecticides ... for she dispenses the recipes.

Your first duty is to be humane. Love childhood. Look with friendly eyes on its games, its pleasures, its amiable dispositions. Which of you does not sometimes look back regretfully on the age when laughter was ever on the lips and the heart free of care? Why steal from the little innocents the enjoyment of a time that passes all too quickly?

There is not a single ill-doer who could not be turned to some good.

Universal silence is taken to imply the consent of the people.

To renounce freedom is to renounce one's humanity, one's rights as a man and equally one's duties.

The truths of the Scriptures are so marked and inimitable, that the inventor would be more of a miraculous character than the hero.