We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void.

There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.

There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.

There is a plague on Man, the opinion that he knows something.

Who does not in some sort live to others, does not live much to himself.

Those that will combat use and custom by the strict rules of grammar do but jest.

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, research is the means of all learning, and ignorance is the end.

Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

There is little less trouble in governing a private family than a whole kingdom. 

Writing does not cause misery. It is born of misery.

The world is all a carcass and vanity, The shadow of a shadow, a play And in one word, just nothing.

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.

There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.

The world is but a perpetual see-saw.

We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity. Variants: It should be noted that the games of children are not games, and must be considered as their most serious actions. For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.

If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don't bother your head about it.

No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.

He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.

The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it.

Labour not after riches first, and think thou afterwards wilt enjoy them. He who neglecteth the present moment, throweth away all that he hath. As the arrow passeth through the heart, while the warrior knew not that it was coming; so shall his life be taken away before he knoweth that he hath it.

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.

In plain truth, lying is an accursed vice. We are not men, nor have any other tie upon another, but by our word.

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.

He who is not sure of his memory, should not undertake the trade of lying. 

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.

Love to his soul gave eyes; he knew things are not as they seem. The dream is his real life; the world around him is the dream.

So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder hither and yon in the vague field of imagination. ..And there is no mad or idle fancy that they do no bring forth in the agitation.

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page-boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk- they are all part of the curriculum.

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.

Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.

The art of dining well is no slight art, the pleasure not a slight pleasure.

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

Nothing prints more lively in our minds than something we wish to forget.

I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie.

The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

Fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.

The ceaseless labour of your life is to build the house of death.

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.

Observe, observe perpetually.

I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of.

Marriage, a market which has nothing free but the entrance.

Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?