We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter..

In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or m….

A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced..

A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence ….

Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence..

The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers..

Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your c….

There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself..

To be born in imbecility, in the midst of pain and crisis; to be the plaything of ignorance, error, need, sickness, wickedness, and passions; to retu….

Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful..

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things..

Those who fear the facts will forever try to discredit the fact-finders..

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings..

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy..

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest..

Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control..

You risk just as much in being credulous as in being suspicious..

Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others..

All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings..

In general, children, like men, and men, like children, prefer entertainment to education..