Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.

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

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

When we hear news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.

Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.

While loving glory so much how can you persist in a plan which will cause you to lose it?

This body which called itself and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.

I have received, sir, your new book against the human species, and I thank you for it. You will please people by your manner of telling them the truth about themselves, but you will not alter them. The horrors of that human society-from which in our feebleness and ignorance we expect so many consolations-have never been painted in more striking colours: no one has ever been so witty as you are in trying to turn us into brutes: to read your book makes one long to go on all fours. Since, however, it is now some sixty years since I gave up the practice, I feel that it is unfortunately impossible for me to resume it: I leave this natural habit to those more fit for it than are you and I.

A people that sells its own children is more condemnable than the buyer; this commerce demonstrates our superiority; he who gives himself a master was born to have one.