I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

Most nations, as well as people are impossible only in their youth; they become incorrigible as they grow older.

When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.

The first step towards vice is to shroud innocent actions in mystery, and whoever likes to conceal something sooner or later has reason to conceal it.

You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to no one.

The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.

We should not teach children the sciences; but give them a taste for them.

To endure is the first thing that a child ought to learn, and that which he will have the most need to know.

I have always said and felt that true enjoyment can not be described.

Base souls have no faith in great individuals.

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.

Every man has a right to risk his own life for the preservation of it.

The English are predisposed to pride, the French to vanity.

Take the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well.

Although modesty is natural to man, it is not natural to children. Modesty only begins with the knowledge of evil.

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

Our affections as well as our bodies are in perpetual flux.

Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is.

How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long?

We do not know what is really good or bad fortune.

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles.

We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced.

Heroes are not known by the loftiness of their carriage; the greatest braggarts are generally the merest cowards.

Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.

The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste time in order to save it.

Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome.

However great a man's natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.

The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries itself the causes of its destruction.

Childhood is the sleep of reason.

Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.

We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

It is unnatural for a majority to rule, for a majority can seldom be organized and united for specific action, and a minority can.

A feeble body weakens the mind.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.

Plant and your spouse plants with you; weed and you weed alone.

The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.