The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.

People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm.

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.

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.

We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.

There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.

The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers.