People are ridiculous only when they try or seem to be that which they are not.

It is one of the consolations of philosophy 

that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept 

does not hinge on dispensing with it.

Every war when it comes, 

or before it comes, 

is represented not as a war 

but as an act of self-defence 

against a homicidal maniac.

Men become civilised, 

not in proportion to their willingness to believe, 

but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

We have no right to luxuries while the poor want bread.

Existence 

precedes and rules 

essence.

All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.

Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; 

nothing is lost that is born of the heart.

The light of lights looks always on the motive, 

not the deed, 

the shadow of shadows on the deed alone.

The truth is more important than the facts.

I am so fresh in soul and spirit 

that life gushes and bubbles around me 

in a thousand springs.

I do not know which makes a man more conservative — 

to know nothing but the present, 

or nothing but the past.

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, 

because its excesses are not subject 

to the regulation of conscience.

That man's silence is wonderful to listen to.

To judge from the notions expounded by theologians, 

one must conclude that God created most men 

simply with a view to crowding hell.