“In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.”

“Reading nurtures the soul, and an enlightened friend brings it solace.”

“The more a man knows, the less he talks.”

“Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying?”

“Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all.”

“All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.”

“All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.”

“All is for the best in the best of possible worlds.”

“We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization.”

“My soul is the mirror of the universe, and my body is its frame.”

“The interest I have to believe a thing is no proof that such a thing exists.”

“Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.”

“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”

“Minds differ still more than faces.”

“Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.”

“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”

“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”

“It is said that God is always on the side of the big battalions.”

“Our character is composed of our ideas and our feelings: and, since it has been proved that we give ourselves neither feelings nor ideas, our character does not depend on us. If it did depend on us, there is nobody who would not be perfect. If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing.”

“It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.”

“A witty saying proves nothing.”

“The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.”

“Theology is to religion what poisons are to food.”

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

“I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.”

“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”

“Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.”

“Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them.”

“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.”

“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

“No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.”

“If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.”

“I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.”

“There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable.”

“Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.”

“I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way.”

“The greatest consolation in life is to say what one thinks.”

“Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies.”

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”

“It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”

“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”

“Beware of the words ‘internal security,’ for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.”

“It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection.”

“We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.”

“The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.”

“One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of human intelligence.”

“Discord is the great ill of mankind; and tolerance is the only remedy for it.”

“Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing, and love those who love you.”