The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.
We cannot wish for that we know not.
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.
Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world. [In a letter to Frederick the Great]
Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.
Never give up too quickly, but know when to let go.
Finding your "self-culture" is hero's work. I liken it to the journey of a warrior who is preparing for battle. There is no violence in the battle, but there is a plan of attack and a methodology that you need to employ to complete the journey. Page ...
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
I tried to believe in God, but I confess to you that God meant nothing in my life, and that in my secret heart I too felt a void where my childhood faith had been. But probably this feeling belongs only to individuals in transition. The grandchildren...
Often, we melt into our ecstasies as though they were jams, as though we were sinking into syrupy bowls of gooseberries, of raspberries, of bilberries.
Keep your secrets. You're too young and beautiful not to have secrets.
A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are...
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing. [Voltaire's response to Pascal's Wager]
