“One composition is meagre, though it has many figures; another is rich, though it has few.”
“I discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste, or philosophy. I let my mind rove wantonly, give it free rein to follow any idea, wise or mad that may present itself.”
“Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful.”
“You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.”
“Appeal made to artists. First of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart; make me tremble, weep, shudder; outrage me; delight my eyes afterwards if you can.”
“A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.”
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
No matter how much a man may study, reflect and meditate on all the books in the world, he is nothing more than a minor scribe unless he has read the great book.
Mind what you do; if you deceive me once I shall never believe you again.
It is better to reveal a weakness than allow oneself be suspected of a vice.
The best order of things, as I see it, is the one that includes me; to hell with the most perfect of worlds, if I'm not part of it.
The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.
People stop thinking when they cease to read.
Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
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.
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
Life is but a series of misunderstandings.
Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others.
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
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.
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
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.
Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.