We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.

God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.

Present opportunities are not to be neglected; they rarely visit us twice.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.

Nothing could be smarter, more splendid, more brilliant, better drawn up than two armies. Trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, cannons, formed a harmony such as never been heard in hell.

Our character is composed of our ideas and our feelings: and, since it has been proved that we give ourselves neither feelings nor ideas, our character does not depend on us. If it did depend on us, there is nobody who would not be perfect. If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing