I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.

This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.