“Perfection is attained by slow degrees; she requires the hand of time.”
“May God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.”
“Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”
“One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.”
“Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.”
“All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.”
“Let us work without theorizing, 'Tis the only way to make life endurable.”
“I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.”
“Shun idleness is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.”
“This poem will never reach its destination. [On Rousseau's Ode To Posterity]”
“The public is a ferocious beast. One must either chain it up or flee from it.”
“In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.”
“Verses which do not teach men new and moving truths do not deserve to be read.”
“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”
“It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”
“As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.”
“I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one.”
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.”
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
“All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.”
“The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.”
“How I like the boldness of the English, how I like the people who say what they think!”
“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.”
“God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.”
“I know of no great man except those who have rendered great services to the human race.”
“The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.”
“The history of human opinion is scarcely anything more than the history of human errors.”
“Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.”
“In this country it's a good thing to kill an admiral now and then to encourage the others.”