“There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”
“Desire and force between them are responsible for all our actions; desire causes our voluntary acts, force our involuntary.”
“Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.”
“It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.”
“Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.”
“Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.”
“One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.”
“The multitude which is not brought to act as a unity, is confusion. That unity which has not its origin in the multitude is tyranny.”
“Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.”
“We like security: we like the pope to be infallible in matters of faith, and grave doctors to be so in moral questions so that we can feel reassured.”
“The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries.”
“Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.”
“Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.”
“The highest order of mind is accused of folly, as well as the lowest. Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.”
“Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.”
“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”
“There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.”
“If we let ourselves believe that man began with divine grace, that he forfeited this by sin, and that he can be redeemed only by divine grace through the crucified Christ, then we shall find peace of mind never granted to philosophers. He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.”
“Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this.”