Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition — and perchance to some excess — I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond.

A speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the listener.

We should be similarly wary of accepting common opinions; we should judge them by the ways of reason not by popular vote.

When a Roman was returning from a trip, he used to send someone ahead to let his wife know, so as not to surprise her in the act.

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication.

Nature has made us a present of a broad capacity for entertaining ourselves apart, and often calls us to do so, to teach us that we owe ourselves in part to society, but in the best part to ourselves.

All opinions in the world agree in this, that pleasure is our end, although they differ as to the means of attaining it.