It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of reason begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him.

When we cannot use the compass of mathematics or the torch of experience...it is certain we cannot take a single step forward.

If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him.

Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.

He wanted to know how they prayed to God in El Dorado. "We do not pray to him at all," said the reverend sage. "We have nothing to ask of him. He has given us all we want, and we give him thanks continually.

A long dispute means both parties are wrong.

Anything too stupid to be said is sung.