Morality is the direction of the will towards common, universal goals. It is immoral to act out of self-interest. It is moral that whose end can become the end of all rational beings.
The society is a hospital for the terminally ill.
You can only explain and justify past actions by committing new ones.
A true genius can be known by the fact that all the fools at his appearance conspire against him.
As long as man remains devoted to himself, everyone is on his side: the government, society, even the sun, moon and stars.
Second to the author of a good maxim is the one who quoted it first.
After lunch, everyone becomes conservative.
The day will come when we will be convinced that in what is most personal lies what is most universal.
The mark of good education is to speak of the grandest things in the simplest words.
Nature is an ever-changing cloud; never remaining the same, she always remains herself.
Nature does not tolerate inaccuracies and does not forgive mistakes.
Nature is created in order, in complicity with the spirit, to emancipate us.
Nature cannot be caught unkempt and half-naked: she is always wonderful.
Hitch your chariot to a star.
The motive which prompts a sensitive soul to flee from society lies in the desire to gain society.
The past is meant to serve us, but we can only master it if we submit to the present.
The joy of the spirit is the sign of its power.
Each of us is, at least once in our life, a good speaker.
The religions we call false were once true.
The religion of one age is the literary amusement of the next.
The speeches of Spartans, Stoics, heroes, saints and gods were short and to the point.
The highest truth may seem trivial tomorrow, in the light of a new idea.
The greatest man in history was also the poorest.
The secret of success in society is simple: you need warmth, you need a predisposition towards others.
The secret of a successful education lies in respecting the student.
As much goodness is in man, so much life is in him.
Weak people believe in luck, strong people in cause and effect.
Too much likeness to life is fatal to art.
The ability to see the miraculous in the ordinary is the invariable mark of wisdom.
The poem must be made up of lines, each of which must be a poem in itself.