The freedom of Mankind does not lie in the fact that can do what we want, but that we do not have to do that which we do not want.

With children use force; with men reason; such is the natural order of things. The wise man requires no law.

The French painter Rousseau was once asked why he put a naked woman on a red sofa in the middle of his jungle pictures. He answered, 'I needed a bit of red there.'

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.

[When anything happens, we interpret it as good or bad, but...] We do not know what is really good or bad fortune. [Only the future can decide. For example, what appears to be bad today may in fact lead us to a greater good tomorrow and by the very act of thinking and planning in that positive way, we can help make that good future come true.]

I undertake the same project as Montaigne, but with an aim contrary to his own: for he wrote his Essays only for others, and I write my reveries only for myself.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.