"It takes twenty years to bring man from the state of embryo, and from that of a mere animal, as he is in his first infancy, to the point when his reason begins to dawn. It has taken thirty centuries to know his structure; it would take eternity to know something of his soul: it takes but an instant to kill him."

"None have lived without shedding tears."

"Well! sage Evhemere, what have you seen in all your travels?" "Follies!"

"This world is but a lottery of goods, of ranks, of dignities, of rights."

"The reasonable worship of a just God who punishes and rewards, would undoubtedly contribute to the happiness of men; but when that salutary knowledge of a just God is disfigured by absurd lies and dangerous superstitions, then the remedy turns to poison."

"In those countries where the morals are the most dissolute, the language is the most severe; as if they would replace on the lips what has deserted the heart."

"With the world, do not resort to injuries, but only to irony and gayety: injury revolts, while irony makes one reflect, and gayety disarms."

"All the reasoning of man is not worth one sentiment of woman."

"History is only a record of crimes and misfortunes."

"Why do we dream in our sleep if we have no soul? and, if we have one, how is it that dreams are so incoherent and extravagant?"

"Voltaire inscribed on a statue of Love: "Whoever thou art, behold thy master! He rules thee, or has ruled thee, or will rule thee!""

"Laws should never be in contradiction to usages; for, if the usages are good, the laws are valueless."

"Philosophers and men of letters have done more for mankind than Orpheus, Hercules, or Theseus; for it is more meritorious and more difficult to wean men from their prejudices than to civilize the barbarian : It is harder to correct than to instruct."

"The art of praising caused the art of pleasing."

"Society depends upon women. The nations who confine them are unsociable."

"All religions are more or less mixed with superstitions. Man is not reasonable enough to content himself with a pure and sensible religion, worthy of the Deity."

"O love! only a few rays of thy sacred fire radiate in this exhausted world!"

"Poetry is the music of the soul."

"All the passions die with the years; self-love alone never dies."

"If as much care were taken to perpetuate a race of fine men as is done to prevent the mixture of ignoble blood in horses and dogs, the genealogy of every one would be written on his face and displayed in his manners."

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."

"One dies twice: to cease to live is nothing, but to cease to love and to be loved is an insupportable death."

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: a very stupid daughter of a very wise mother."

"Moderation is the pleasure of the wise."

"Satire lies about men of letters during their life, and eulogy after their death."

"Love is a canvas furnished by Nature, and embroidered by imagination."

"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent one."

"Superstition excites storms; philosophy appeases them."

"Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head> the heart, and the senses."

"Labor is often the father of pleasure."

"It does not depend upon us to avoid poverty, but it does depend upon us to make that poverty respected."

"Our country is that spot to which our heart is attached."

"Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts."

"The best written book is a receipt for a pottage."

"We can not always oblige, but we can always speak obligingly."

"Virtue: a word easy to pronounce, difficult to understand."

"Dress changes the manners."

"Heaven made virtue; man, the appearance."

"A republic is not founded on virtue, but on the ambition of its citizens."

"We never live: we are always in expectation of living."

"I do not know in the whole history of the world a hero, a worthy man, a prophet, a true Christian, who has not been the victim of the jealous, of a scamp, or of a sinister spirit."

"Pleasure has its time; so, too, has wisdom. Make love in thy youth, and in old age, attend to thy salvation."

"Laws should be clear, uniform, precise : to interpret them is nearly always to corrupt them."

"O unfortunates who sin without pleasure! in your errors be more reasonable ; be, at least, fortunate sinners. Since you must be damned, be damned for amiable faults."

"All joys do not cause laughter; great pleasures are serious: pleasures of love do not make us laugh."

"Anything serves as a pretext for the wicked."

"God created woman only to tame man."

"Whoever is suspicious incites treason."

"Use, do not abuse : neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy."