Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The simple-hearted and sincere never do more than half deceive themselves.
If authorities were well organized, there would not be an Unknown Warrior.
There was a time when the world acted on books; now books act on the world.
Words are like eyeglasses they blur everything that they do not make clear.
The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.
TIME and truth are friends, though there are many moments hostile to truth.
To the liberal ideas of the age must be opposed the moral ideas of all ages.
The essence of life consists in thinking, and being conscious of one's soul.
Nothing which does not transport is poetry. The lyre is a winged instrument.
Religion is the only metaphysic that the multitude can understand and adopt.
The punishment of those who have loved women too much is to love them always.
Which is more misshapen,--religion without virtue, or virtue without religion?
Of the two, I prefer those who render vice lovable to those who degrade virtue.
What a man knows only through feeling can be explained only through enthusiasm.
The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.
The talkative man speaks from his mouth, the eloquent man speaks from his heart.
Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praiseworthy
Happy is the man who can do only one thing; in doing it, he fulfills his destiny.
Order is to arrangement what the soul is to the body, and what mind is to matter.
We should make ourselves loved, for men are only just towards those whom they love.
If you are poor, distinguish yourself by your virtues; if rich, by your good deeds.
Think that day lost whose descending sun, views from thy hand no noble action done.
Virtue is the health of the soul. It gives a flavor to the smallest leaves of life.
Religion is fire which example keeps alive, and which goes out if not communicated.
Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman.
We may convince others by our arguements, but we can only persuade them by their own
If you would live happily, do not exaggerate life's evils, nor slight her blessings.
We live in an age in which superfluous ideas abound and essential ideas are lacking.
Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other.
Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth.
What can one possibly introduce into a mind that is already full, and full of itself?
We measure minds by their stature; it would be better to esteem them by their beauty.
What can you possibly add to a mind that's full, especially one that's full of itself.
Words become luminous when the poet's finger has passed over them its phosphorescence.
We should do good whenever we can and do kindness at all times, for at all times we can.
Lenity is a part of justice; but she must not speak too loud for fear of waking justice.
Some superior minds are unrecognized because there is no standard by which to weigh them.
A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away.
In clothes clean and fresh there is a kind of youth with which age should surround itself.
It would be next to impossible to discover a handsome woman who was not also a vain woman.
Old age takes from the man of intellect no qualities save those that are useless to wisdom.
There is always some frivolity in excellent minds; they have wings to rise, but also stray.
Man is born with the faculty of speech. Who gives it to him? He who gives the bird its song.
Reason is a bee, and exists only on what it makes; his usefulness takes the place of beauty.
The essential thing is not that there be many truths in a work, but that no truth be abused.
Success serves men as a pedestal. It makes them seem greater when not measured by reflection.
One should choose for a wife only such a woman as he would choose for a friend, were she a man.
The ways suited to confidence are familiar to me, but not those that are suited to familiarity.
How many books there are whose reputation is made that would not obtain it were it now to make?
There are some men who are witty when they are in a bad humor, and others only when they are sad.