The great question in life is the suffering we cause, and the most ingenious metaphysics do not justify the man who has broken the heart that loved him.

Every time government attempts to handle our affairs, it costs more and the results are worse than if we had handled them ourselves.

Art for art's sake, with no purpose, for any purpose perverts art. But art achieves a purpose which is not its own. (1804)

There is a bizarre notion according to which it is claimed that because men are corrupt, it is necessary to give certain of them all the more power... on the contrary, they must be given less power.

There are things one does not say for a long time, but, once they are said, one never stops repeating them.

No duty, however, binds us to these so-called laws, whose corrupting influence menaces what is noblest in our being.

If political authority is not limited, the division of powers, ordinarily the guarantee of freedom, becomes a danger and a scourge.

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Is that all?

Even in the middle of a noisy mass of students, one girl’s laugh grabbed my attention.

Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving and identity.

As the excited passions of hostile people are of themselves a powerful enemy, both the general and his government should use their best efforts to allay them.

There are poems about the internet and about the shipping forecast but very few by women celebrating men.

To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.

Leave people to their opinions and judgements. They cannot harm you; it is their understanding that is faulty, not yours.

I still feel, as I did when I was six or seven, that books are simply the best way to experience a story.

God does not expect us to imitate Jesus Christ; He expects us to allow the life of Jesus to be manifested in our moral flesh.

Increasingly prices are set by sellers to raise their prices without a loss of sales sufficient to wipe out the gain.