Long life, and short, are by death made all one; for there is no long, nor short, to things that are no more.

Glory and repose are things that cannot possibly inhabit in one and the same place.

The most unhappy and frail creatures are men and yet they are the proudest.

Man is the sole animal whose nudities offend his own companions, and the only one who, in his natural actions, withdraws and hides himself from his own kind.

Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.

Speech belongs half to the speaker, half to the listener. The latter must prepare to receive it according to the motion it takes.

We must reserve a back shop all our own entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude.