“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”

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

“The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.”

“What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?”

“Wherever my travels may lead, paradise is where I am.”

“I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.”

“I am the best-natured creature in the world, and yet I have already killed three, and of these three two were priests.”