“Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.”
“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.”
“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”
“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”
“To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.”
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
“If we submit everything to reason our religion will be left with nothing mysterious or supernatural. If we offend the principles of reason our religion will be absurd and ridiculous . . . There are two equally dangerous extremes: to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason.”