Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.

Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.

To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.

Everything I see about me is sowing the seeds of a revolution that is inevitable, though I shall not have the pleasure of seeing it. The lightning is so close at hand that it will strike at the first chance, and then there will be a pretty uproar. The young are fortunate, for they will see fine things.

Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.