Of all the sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.
I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.
Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have left me.
What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster!
Ignorance and error are necessary to life, like bread and water.
Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he did not want to sign.
A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
One thing above all gives charm to men's thoughts, and this is unrest. A mind that is not uneasy irritates and bores me.
I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life.
When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.
The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
It is better to understand little than to misunderstand a lot.
Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women's clothes. Men who like women never notice what they wear.
Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
What frightens us most in a madman is his sane conversation.
We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we want another which will be eternal.
Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.