All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings.
Distance is a great promoter of admiration!
Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.
Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.
Good music is very close to primitive language.
Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others.
I believe in God, although I live very happily with atheists... It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.
It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
My ideas are my harlots.
No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others.
One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it.
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.
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.
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.
Reason is to the philosopher what grace is to the Christian. Grace causes the Christian to act, reason the philosopher.
Skepticism is the first step towards truth.
The best doctor is the one you run for and can't find.
The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.
There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.' This stranger is a theologian.
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order. Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
Found 38 occurence(s) in 52,045 quotation(s).
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