I only study the things I like; I apply my mind only to matters that interest me. They'll be useful-or useless-to me or to others in due course, I'll be given-or not given-the opportunity of benefiting from what I've learned. In any case, I'll have enjoyed the inestimable advantage of doing things I like doing and following my own inclinations.

Intelligent people make many mistakes because they cannot believe the world is really as foolish as it is.

Women see faults much more readily in each other than they can discover perfections.

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.

Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death.

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.