Awe outlines the limits of our knowledge and often shows not so much the perfection of things as the imperfection of our minds.
Not accepting a compliment is like asking for it to be repeated.
Man's mind and heart, like his speech, retain the imprint of the country in which he was born.
The mind sometimes serves us to boldly commit folly.
Philosophy triumphs over the troubles of the past and the future, the troubles of the present triumph over philosophy.
Man is never as unhappy as he thinks he is, nor as much as he wishes.
Fleeing in time should be attributed to the same manhood of the freeman as the fight, in other words, the freeman chooses flight with the same manhood or presence of mind with which he chooses the fight.
Divine justice allows the devil to deceive men with impunity, but does not allow men miserably deceived and enticed by him to go unpunished.
The essence of man is manifested in desires.
A thing does not cease to be true just because it is not recognized as such by many.
All that is wonderful is hard and rare.
All that was once venerated in false piety was nothing to the dejected soul but imagination and delusion.
All good passions are of such a character and nature, that we cannot exist or protect without them, they belong to us naturally, like love, desire, and like everything proper to love.
Any kind of love that does not have as its cause the freedom of the spirit, but something else, easily turns into hatred.
Souls are not won by the gun, but by love and kindness.
If a stone in free fall could think, it would believe that it is falling of its own accord.
If you want life to smile at you, give it your good mood first.
If one knows what decision to make in order to do something good or prevent something bad from happening, but does not do it, it is called being vacillating.
Envy is a special kind of hatred, because it acts on man, so that he feels displeasure at the sight of another's happiness, and conversely, finds pleasure in another's unhappiness.
Truth is the touchstone of both itself and lies.
As soon as you imagine that you are unable to do some work, it becomes impossible for you to do it.
Excessive pride or excessive humility represents the limit of self-knowledge.
He who does not stoop to help others, either by reason or by mercy, is rightly called inhuman.
Men think that they are free only to the extent that they obey their passions, and when they are forced to live according to the law, they think that their rights are violated.
People find it most helpful to do what facilitates the strengthening of the friendship.
There is a difference between drive and desire only in that "desire" most often relates to people when they are aware of their drive, and thus the following definition can be given: desire is a conscious drive.
Peace is not the absence of war, but the virtue that comes from fortitude.
Don't cry or laugh, but understand.
Ignorance is not a reason. Impoliteness is not an argument.
There is no doubt that people are naturally inclined to hatred and envy, and education only strengthens these attributes. For parents usually encourage virtue in children only by methods based on their honor and envy.