No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason. |
One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures. |
Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things. |
Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things. |
Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common. |
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it. |
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it. |
People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm. |
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory |
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild. |
See this egg. It is with this that all the schools of theology and all the temples of the earth are to be overturned. |
Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy |
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid. |
The best doctor is the one you run for and can't find |
The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers |