Anything we do to fight misery and ignorance and poverty, no matter how imperfect it may be, is still better than doing nothing at all.

One is bound to one's wife, but has a bond to one's mistress.

Books are never harmless...they either strengthen us or they weaken us in our faith. Some of them do this even as they entertain us, others as they teach us. In an invisible way their teaching penetrates into our hearts and souls, to continue its work inside, and we inhale the spirit of these books as healing or poisonous vapors. They can bring the greatest benefits and the greatest ruin, for from their ideas that they spread come the deeds of the future.

Politics is the only field in which the character of a person does not stand in the way of his career.

The Encyclopedia - the advance artillery of reason, the armada of philosophy, the siege engine of the enlightenment.

Politics is a matter of leading other people. Admittedly not where they want to go, but where they ought to go.

Instead of discussing with myself every morning whether I feel inspired or not, I step into my office every day at nine sharp, open the window and politely ask the muse to enter and kiss me. Sometimes she comes in, more often she does not. But she can never claim that she hasn't found me waiting in the right place.