It would be very singular that all nature, all the planets, should obey eternal laws, and that there should be a little animal five feet high, who, in contempt of these laws, could act as he pleased, solely according to his caprice.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.

The adjective is the enemy of the noun. Variant: The adjective is the enemy of the substantive.

Providence has given us hope and sleep as a compensation for the many cares of life.

Feeble verses are those which sin not against rules, but against genius.

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