Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.

We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.

I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don't remember ever having seen one weep.

The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.

Impenetrable in their dissimulation, cruel in their vengeance, tenacious in their purposes, unscrupulous as to their methods, animated by profound and hidden hatred for the tyranny of man -- it is as though there exists among them an ever-present conspiracy toward domination, a sort of alliance like that subsisting among the priests of every country.

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.

All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.

The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.

Distance is a great promoter of admiration!