It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

[A]ll churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, are simply human inventions. They use fear to enslave us. They are a monopoly for power and profit.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

Religion is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

I don't need shoes. I need a night scope. You think they sell night scopes someplace here?

There is a valid reason why they say live everyday as if it were your last, the truth is...., there is no tomorrow - just today

But the other Ministers considered that to employ a magician was one thing, novelists were quite another and they would not stoop to it.

I've never left China. My family's been there for 600 years. But my architecture is not consciously Chinese in any sense. I'm a western architect.

I want my whole life lined with a topical anesthetic.

If you begin to think you're something you're not, you're looking in the wrong mirror.

If you can't energize others, you can't be a leader.

Never underestimate the magnitude of the power of the forces that reinforce the status quo.

The pursuit of politics is religion, morality, and poetry all in one.

Of course it's difficult to top a box office success like Emmanuelle, so it will always be my most important work. But that's nothing to be ashamed of.