Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

The man who says to me, "Believe as I do, or God will damn you," will presently say, "Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate you."

To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature.

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

Doubt is not a very agreeable status, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.