The most miserable mortals are they that deliver themselves up to their palates, or to their lusts; the pleasure is short, and turns presently nauseous, and the end of it is either shame or repentance.

Why does no one confess his sins? Because he is yet in them. It is for a man who has awoke from sleep to tell his dreams.

Anyone can stop a man's life, but no one his death; a thousand doors open on to it.

...nothing is so entirely admirable as a man bravely wretched.

Now we are not merely to stick knowledge on to the soul: we must incorporate it into her; the soul should not be sprinkled with knowledge but steeped in it.

Religion worships God, while superstition profanes that worship.

We live not according to reason, but according to fashion.