“Does not vanity itself cease to be blamable, is it not even ennobled, when it is directed to laudable objects, when it confines itself to prompting us to great and generous actions?”

The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.

My ideas are my whores.

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.

Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one’s fatherland, which is perishable?

Passions destroy more prejudices than philosophy does.

The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.

First of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart; make me tremble, weep, shudder; outrage me; delight my eyes afterwards if you can.

Scepticism is the first step towards truth.

What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.

There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.

Shakespeare’s fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.

The best doctor is the one you run to and can’t find.

The world is the house of the strong.

Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.

Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.

Only God and some few rare geniuses can keep forging ahead into novelty.

All our first movements are good, generous, heroical; reflection weakens and kills them.

The brute appears (or come forward, “apparait”, Fr.) and rule over (or dominate), stifling every (“toute”, Fr.) noble, generous impulse; it is then the ruin (or downfall or decline) of any humanity in man.

It is in the company of men pursuing a same ideal that the still weavering (or unsteady) soul can set oneself (“se fixer”, Fr) and stick to (or attach to) everything that is noble and generous.

The secret pleasure of a generous act Is the great mind’s great bribe.

I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.

The possession of a library, or the free use of it, no more constitutes learning, than the possession of wealth constitutes generosity.

Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious. Great speech is impassioned, small speech cantankerous.

I would have a man generous to his country, his neighbors, his kindred, his friends, and most of all his poor friends. Not like some who are most lavish with those who are able to give most of them.