A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed.

Although my knowledge grows more and more, nevertheless I do not for that reason believe that it can ever be actually infinite, since it can never reach a point so high that it will be unable to attain any greater increase.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

[About Pierre de Fermat] It cannot be denied that he has had many exceptional ideas, and that he is a highly intelligent man. For my part, however, I have always been taught to take a broad overview of things, in order to be able to deduce from them general rules, which might be applicable elsewhere.

Because reason...is the only thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts, I would prefer to believe that it exists, in its entirety, in each of us.

It's the familiar love-hate syndrome of seduction: "I don't really care what it is I say, I care only that you like it."

Sensations are nothing but confused modes of thinking.