“Let us work without theorizing, 'Tis the only way to make life endurable.”
“I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.”
“This poem will never reach its destination. [On Rousseau's Ode To Posterity]”
“The public is a ferocious beast. One must either chain it up or flee from it.”
“In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.”
“Verses which do not teach men new and moving truths do not deserve to be read.”
“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”
“It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”
“As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.”
“I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one.”
“The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.”
“All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.”
“How I like the boldness of the English, how I like the people who say what they think!”
“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.”
“God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.”
“I know of no great man except those who have rendered great services to the human race.”
“The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.”
“The history of human opinion is scarcely anything more than the history of human errors.”
“Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.”
“In this country it's a good thing to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others.”
“The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.”
“Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.”
“Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.”
“Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother.”
“They use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to disguise their thoughts.”
“The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.”
“Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.”
“In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.”
“My prayer to God is a very short one: ''O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous!'' God has granted it.”
“The pursuit of what is true and the practice of what is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.”