“Mankind suffers from two excesses: to exclude reason, and to live by nothing but reason.”

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

The entire ocean is affected by a single pebble.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

If you do not love too much, you do not love enough.

If you want others to have a good opinion of you, say nothing.

How hollow is the heart of man, and how full of excrement!

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.

Good deeds, when concealed, are the most admirable.

Having been unable to strengthen justice, we have justified strength.

One-half of the ills of life come because men are unwilling to sit down quietly for thirty minutes to think through all the possible consequences of their acts.

It’s not those who write the laws that have the greatest impact on society. It’s those who write the songs.

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.

It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

Human life is thus only an endless illusion. Men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does when we are gone. Society is based on mutual hypocrisy.

Plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion; unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny.