We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.
Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.
If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
Good music is very close to primitive language.
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.