The opportunity of making happy is more scarce than we imagine; the punishment of missing it is, never to meet with it again; and the use we make of it leaves us an eternal sentiment of satisfaction or repentance.

This dog, which, although no beauty, was of an uncommon breed, I had made my friend and companion; and it certainly deserved the name better than the majority of those who had assumed it.

That which renders life burdensome to us generally arises from the abuse of it.

Each member of the community gives himself to it at the instant of its constitution, just as he actually is, himself and all his forces, including all goods in his possession.

Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.

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

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook, and a good digestion.