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.

We have to have powder for our wigs; that is why so many poor people have no bread.

The truth brings no man a fortune.

Supreme happiness consists in self-content.

The empire of woman is an empire of softness, of address, of complacency. Her commands are caresses, her menaces are tears.

There is no subjection so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom.

Equality, because without it there can be no liberty.