I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left.

What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.

Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope, according to what is promised or threatened us.

A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets people's attention.

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.

Fame is a heavy burden.

Thought depends absolutely on the stomach, but in spite of that, those who have the best stomachs are not the best thinkers.