Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.

Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one's fatherland, which is perishable?

Gentleness and peacefulness regulate our proceedings; theirs are dictated by fury. We employ reason, they accumulate faggots. They preach nothing but love, and breathe nothing but blood. Their words are humane, but their hearts are cruel.

At an early age I sucked up the milk of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Anacreon, Plato and Euripides, diluted with that of Moses and the prophets.

There is only one virtue, justice; only one duty, to be happy; only one corollary, not to overvalue life and not to fear death.

It is raining bombs on the house of the Lord. I go in fear and trembling lest one of these terrible bombers gets into difficulties.