"The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason"
"The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice"
"An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination"
"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women"
"All styles are good except the tiresome kind"
"All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets"
"All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God"
"A witty saying proves nothing"
"Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life"
"Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors"
"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung"
"Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel"
"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities"
"Do well and you will have no need for ancestors"
"Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient"
"Better is the enemy of good"
"To hold a pen is to be at war"
"To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd"
"Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable"
"The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything"
"The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death"
"The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it"
"The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error"
"When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics"
"What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking"
"What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy"
"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature"
"Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool"
"Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors"
"Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy"
"Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them"
