It is hard to prevent oneself from believing what one so keenly desires.

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

It is not our criminal actions that require courage to confess, but those which are ridiculous and foolish.

My bad head cannot adjust itself to the way things are.... If I want to depict spring, it has to be in wintertime; if I want to describe a beautiful landscape, I must be enclosed within walls; and I have said a hundred times that if I were put in the Bastille, there I would paint a picture of liberty.

Do not base your life on the judgments of others; first, because they are as likely to be mistaken as you are, and further, because you cannot know that they are telling you their true thoughts.

All through life a man has need of a counsellor and guide.

Whence do I get my rules of conduct? I find them in my heart. Whatever I feel to be good is good. Whatever I feel to be evil is evil. Conscience is the best of casuists.