Quote collection
701 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Answer me, you who believe that animals are only machines. Has nature arranged for this animal to have all the machinery of feelings only in order for it not to have any at all?"
"It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape."
"Inspiration: A peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of God."
"The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."
"The Jews are of all peoples the grosses, the most ferocious, the most fanatical, and the most absurd."
"To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature."
"Men argue. Nature acts."
"Whosoever does not know how to recognize the faults of great men is incapable of estimating their perfections."
"Men who have seen life and death... as an unbroken continuum, the swinging pendulum, have been able to move as freely into death as they walked through life. Socrates went to the grave almost perplexed by his companions' tears."
"He wanted to know how they prayed to God in El Dorado. "We do not pray to him at all," said the reverend sage. "We have nothing to ask of him. He has given us all we want, and we give him thanks continually."
"Let each of us boldly and honestly say: How little it is that I really know!"
"A lady of honor may be raped once, but it strengthens her virtue."
"Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel."
"Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up."
"The ear is the avenue to the heart."
"We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one."
"The man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities is an enthusiast; the man who supports his madness with murder is a fanatic."
"I have no morals, yet I am a very moral person"
"Let us cultivate our garden."
"I hold firmly to my original views. After all I am a philosopher."