We’re neither pure, nor wise, nor good; we do the best we know.

But for what purpose was the earth formed?" asked Candide. "To drive us mad," replied Martin.

The darkness is at its deepest. Just before the sunrise.

What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.

Superstition sets the whole world in flames, but philosophy douses them.

The worthy administrators of justice are like a cat set to take care of a cheese, lest it should be gnawed by the mice. One bite of the cat does more damage to the cheese than twenty mice can do.

Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.