Were he supreme, were he mighty, were he just, were he good, this God you tell me about, would it be through enigmas and buffooneries he would wish to teach me to serve and know him?

In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.

There are thorns everywhere, but along the path of vice, roses bloom above them.

Sexual pleasure is, I agree, a passion to which all others are subordinate but in which they all unite.

Between understanding and faith immediate connections must subsist.

Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue; but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make pursuant to our individual organization.

Hope is the most sensitive part of a poor wretch's soul; whoever raises it only to torment him is behaving like the executioners in Hell who, they say, incessantly renew old wounds and concentrate their attention on that area of it that is already lacerated.