Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
No-one is exempt from speaking nonsense – the only misfortune is to do it solemnly.
The lack of wealth is easily repaired but the poverty of the soul is irreplaceable.
~The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them ~
Disappointment and feebleness imprint upon us a cowardly and valetudinarian virtue.
If I were of the trade, I should naturalize art as much as they "artialize" nature.
The laws of conscience, though we ascribe them to nature, actually come from custom.
The worst condition of humans is when they lose knowledge and control of themselves.
Children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.
Anyone who does not feel sufficiently strong in memory should not meddle with lying.
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end.
Taking it all in all, I find it is more trouble to watch after money than to get it.
Philosophical discussions habitually make men happy and joyful not frowning and sad.
Even opinion is of force enough to make itself to be espoused at the expense of life.
Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.
Men are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not the things themselves.
Decency, not to dare to do that in public which it is decent enough to do in private.
Reason has so many forms that we do not know which to choose-Experiment has no fewer.
The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.
It is fear that I stand most in fear of, in sharpness it exceeds every other feeling.
Indeed, there is no such thing as an altogether ugly woman — or altogether beautiful.
The great and glorious masterpiece of humanity is to know how to live with a purpose.
How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables.
There is nothing so extreme that is not allowed by the custom of some nation or other.
I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.
Wine is the benevolent god, who gives back gaiety to men and restores youth to the old.
The judgment is an utensil proper for all subjects, and will have an oar in everything.
I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.
There is as much difference between us and ourselves as there is between us and others.
As far as fidelity is concerned, there is no animal in the world as treacherous as man.
Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play.
Meditation is a powerful and full study as can effectually taste and employ themselves.
If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said.
Socrates thought and so do I that the wisest theory about the gods is no theory at all.
In nine lifetimes, you'll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you.
The relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them.
The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.
There is power in ambition, pleasure in luxury...but envy can gain nothing but vexation.
There is nothing in which a horse's power is better revealed than in a neat, clean stop.
This very Rome that we behold deserves our love ...: the only common and universal city.
The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from Custom.
There are few men who dare to publish to the world the prayers they make to Almighty God.
Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.
Our own peculiar human condition is that we are as fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.
The dispersing and scattering our names into many mouths, we call making them more great.
Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.
When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?
I love a friendship that flatters itself in the sharpness and vigor of its communications.
Intoxication is calculated to put heart into the elderly and give them delight in dancing.
Learned we may be with another man's learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.