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

Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices.

Many men, seemingly impelled by fortune, hasten forward to meet misfortune half way.

Had I no other proof of the immortality of the soul than the oppression of the just and the triumph of the wicked in this world, this alone would prevent my having the least doubt of it. So shocking a discord amidst a general harmony of things would make me naturally look for a cause; I should say to myself we do not cease to exist with this life; everything reassumes its order after death.

As long as there are rich people in the world, they will be desirous of distinguishing themselves from the poor.

Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.

The world is the book of women. Whatever knowledge they may possess is more commonly acquired by observation than by reading.