“God is not He who is, but That which is.”

Nature offers nothing that can be called this man’s rather than another’s; but under nature everything belongs to all.

Blessed are the weak who think that they are good because they have no claws.

Self-preservation is the primary and only foundation of virtue.

I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.

Reason connot defeat emotion, an emotion can only be displaced or overcome by a stronger emotion.

Nothing in nature is by chance. Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.

The endeavor to understand is the first and only basis of virtue.

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

There can be no hope without fear, and no fear without hope.

He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.

Nature has no goal in view, and final causes are only human imaginings.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of established religion.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man’s thinking too highly of himself.

The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.