“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?”

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.

Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.

Far harder to be generous with your time.

If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.

How generous was it to offer gifts to people one knew would never accept them?

It’s very much a “Weird Al” themed issue, so I’d like to think that there’s a lot of “Weird Al” flavor throughout but I think it’d be generous really to call me an editor.

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.