Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it.

For how do we know that the thoughts which occur in dreaming are false rather than those others which we experience when awake, since the former are often not less vivid and distinct than the latter?

To live without philosophizing is in truth the same as keeping the eyes closed without attempting to open them.

The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.

There is nothing more ancient than the truth.

It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.

And I shall always hold myself more obliged to those by whose favour I enjoy uninterrupted leisure than to any who might offer me the most honourable positions in the world.