If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

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

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

The most genuine and efficacious charity is that which greases the paws of the priests; such charity covers a multitude of sins.

We adore, we invoke, we seek to appease, only that which we fear.

It is as impossible to translate poetry as it is to translate music.