“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.

What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

Mutual cheating is the foundation of society.

The foundation of the world lies in the nation. The foundation of the nation lies in the family. The foundation of the family lies in the individual.

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Self-acceptance was the foundation of the happiest time in your life and it was the engine that powered the train.

A relationship is not based on the length of time you spent together. It’s based on the foundation you built together.

If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.

I still have a spiritual base and a spiritual foundation. And my conversation with God is very open-ended. I pray for humility, honestly, because it’s very easy to be caught up in this world.

We must achieve both security and solvency. In fact, the foundation of military strength is economic strength.