For man there is nothing more interesting in the world than people.
Women are actually closer to the human ideal than men.
Knowledge is always preceded by an assumption.
The idea is the only thing that never dies.
A liberal can become a minister, but that does not mean he will be a liberal minister.
The one who relies more on himself, maybe more.
The courage of the soldier is good only mixed with the best peaceful virtues, and discipline is good only mixed with the highest sense of freedom. When these exist separately—as happens because soldiers are armed even in time of peace—courage degenerates into slavery, and discipline into bestiality and insolence.
Undoubtedly, the most important thing is the way a person perceives the desire, regardless of how it is in reality.
Morality appeared with vice.
The morality of nations depends on respect for women.
Really serious aspiration to a certain goal is half the success in achieving it.
Nature inspires love and attracts to itself simply because it is natural.
The first and most important thing in life is to try to master yourself.
Of all the arts, poetry, more than any other, exposes itself to the temptation to substitute its specific beauties, some stolen sparkles.
Dryness heralds death everywhere.
Mental exercises have an extremely beneficial influence on man, just as the sun has on nature; they dispel the gloomy mood and gradually lighten, warm and uplift the spirit.
I am more and more convinced that our happiness depends much more on how we meet the events in our lives than on the nature of the events themselves.
A good goal can only be valuable if the means sufficient to achieve it are equally valuable.
In mercy, there is always a mixture of love and tenderness, and in malice, a mixture of hatred and anger.
What we call heroic valor, and what we admire as grandeur and elevation of spirit, is nothing but a form of calm and grounded pride and self-respect.
If the only motive for our actions is the desire to prove our freedom, then we cannot free ourselves from the chains of necessity.
Whether any act is virtuous or vicious, it is only a sign of a certain trait of soul or character; a deed must proceed from the fixed principles of our spirit, which apply to all human conduct, and which are part of his personal character.
If courage and ambition are not regulated by good will, they can make a person a tyrant or a thief.
Wickedness... is a sudden desire to do harm to another person, so that by comparison with our own situation we may feel satisfaction.
A true skeptic has a distrustful attitude toward his own doubts as toward philosophical writings.
Love is nothing but a desire to make another person happy.
People have a common tendency to imagine that everything that exists is similar to them, and to attribute to each object those features that they know well and understand directly.
My greatest happiness, my fullest satisfaction, is to read, to walk, to dream, and to believe.
Darkness is loathsome to the mind as well as to the sight; nothing could bring us so much pleasure as giving us the possibility of turning darkness into light, no matter how much effort we might have to make.
We condemn every deception, every breach of the word, because we believe that the freedom and breadth of communication between people is completely dependent on fidelity to promises.