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

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

The science of government is only a science of combinations, of applications, and of exceptions, according to times, places and circumstances.

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.

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

Religious persecutors are not believers, they are rascals.