Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end.
Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.
Virtue shuns ease as a companion. It demands a rough and thorny path.
A man has need of tough ears to hear himself fairly judged.
There is no desire more natural than the desire of knowledge. (Il n'est desir plus naturel que le desir de connaissance)
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.