 Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one's innocence with the loss of one's prejudices. |
| The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. |
| There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it. |
| The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled. |
| The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me. |
| The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action. |
| If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him. |
| We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter. |
| Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey. |
| The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law. |
| When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man's name live for thousands of years. |
| Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off. |
| If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can't deny a kind of respect for the great criminal. |
| It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire. |
| 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. |
| All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs. |
| Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common. |
| The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find. |
| Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. |
| Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey. |
