It is with books as with the fires of our grates, everybody borrows a light from his neighbor to kindle his own, which in turn is communicated to others, and each partakes of all.

Slavery is also as ancient as war, and war as human nature.

What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

God has punished the knave, and the devil has drowned the rest.

Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed.

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.