It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.

What one knows best is ... what one has learned not from books but as a result of books, through the reflections to which they have given rise.

The best philosophical attitude to adopt towards the world is a union of the sarcasm of gaiety with the indulgence of contempt.

Almost the whole of history is but a sequence of horrors.

All passions exaggerate; and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.

It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.

The great always sell their society to the vanity of the little.