Never did I think so much, exist so much, be myself so much as in the journeys I have made alone and on foot. Walking has something about it which animates and enlivens my ideas. I can hardly think while I am still; my body must be in motion to move my mind.

To abstain that we may enjoy is the epicurianism of reason.

The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction.

Take the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

He who pretends to look on death without fear lies. All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed.

Too much apparatus, designed to guide us in experiments and to supplement the exactness of our senses, makes us neglect to use those senses...The more ingenious our apparatus, the coarser and more unskillful are our senses. We surround ourselves with tools and fail to use those which nature has provided every one of us.