Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgment on him.

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

There is no knowledge so hard to acquire as the knowledge of how to live this life well and naturally.

Women when they marry buy a cat in the bag.

No two men ever judged alike of the same thing, and it is impossible to find two opinions exactly similar, not only in different men but in the same men at different times.

We are nearer neighbors to ourselves than the whiteness of snow or the weight of stones are to us: if man does not know himself, how should he know his functions and powers?

The judgment is an utensil proper for all subjects, and will have an oar in everything.