In a country where everyone tries to appear something, many should believe, and indeed do, that it is better to be bankrupt than to be nothing.
In solitude we are happier than in society. Could this be because in solitude we think of inanimate objects, and among people - of people?
Generosity is nothing but the compassion of a noble heart.
In France, no one touches the instigators, but they follow those who, seeing the fire, raise the alarm.
Here is one of the best arguments against marriage: only one woman can make a fool of a man - his wife.
Here is an excellent rule which should guide us in the art of the comic: we must mock and laugh in such a way that the mocked may not offend; otherwise, know that the joke failed you.
Here is a man who cannot earn his respect. So there is only one thing left for him: first of all, to make a career, and then to surround himself with all kinds of scoundrels.
Whenever I see women, as well as men, who are blinded by passion for someone, I no longer believe in their ability to feel deeply. This rule has never failed me.
Take your pick: women you can either know or love. There is no third option.
Listening to someone's secret is like pawning their things.
Stupidity would not be true stupidity if it did not fear the mind.
Pride somehow heightens men, and vanity swells them.
Woe to him who is clever but has no strong character. Since he took Diogenes' lamp into your hand, you also need his staff.
To the soul and mind indecision and hesitation are the same as interrogation to the body.
For truly decent people who follow certain rules, all God's commandments are summarized in the inscription above the entrance to the Telem monastery: "Do what you want."
If I succeed in doing a good deed, and it becomes known, I do not feel rewarded, but punished.
Naturalists claim that in all species of animals degeneration begins with the females. Philosophers can quite well apply this finding to the morals of civilized society.
Both in marriage and in celibacy there are shortcomings, and of these two states the one in which it is still possible to correct something is preferable.
Bad people also sometimes do good deeds: as if they want to check whether it is really as pleasant as decent people claim.
Of all the varieties of hypocrisy, there is one a little more decent - false modesty.
Fame is the pleasure of being known by those you do not know.
Sometimes it is enough not to put up with arrogance and pride to be able to destroy them; sometimes it is enough to overlook them for them to become harmless.
The history of free peoples is the only subject worthy of a historian's attention; the history of peoples oppressed by despots is just a collection of anecdotes.
However ashamed an institution (a parliament, an academy, an assembly) may be, there is no point in fighting it: it will endure because of its dimensions. Shame and levity just slide along it like bullets slide over a pig or a crocodile.
No matter how bad men think of women, every woman thinks even worse of them.
As society is..., so is it governed. It is her right to say nonsense, and it is the right of ministers to do nonsense.
Slander is like a tiresome wasp: if you are not sure that you will kill it on the spot, do not try to drive it away; it will attack you again with even greater fury.
When we are paid for a noble deed, it is taken from us.
Whoever does not want to be a jester, should avoid the stage: standing on it, it is impossible not to act like a clown; otherwise the public will throw stones at you.
He who aspires to become a philosopher need not fear the first sad discoveries on the path of human knowledge. To know a man thoroughly, you must overcome that hostility which he arouses in us: it is impossible to become a qualified anatomist until you learn to look without disgust at the human body and its organs.