There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
Good music is very close to primitive language.
Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
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.