The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
being alone, men & time
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
History should be written as philosophy.
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors but they are seldom or ever inventors.
Business is the salt of life.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
art, government & money
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
It is forbidden to kill therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Society therefore is an ancient as the world.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
It is vain for the coward to flee death follows close behind it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
I hate women because they always know where things are.
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Common sense is not so common.
Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees it requires the hand of time.
The best is the enemy of the good.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend provided, of course, he really is dead.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
Better is the enemy of good.
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.