Quotations and Poems

» Admiration » “Animals do not admire each other. A horse does not admire its companion.”

» Beauty » “Beauty is a harmonious relation between something in our nature and the quality of the object which delights us.”

» Belief » “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

» Books and Reading » “The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.”

» Bores and Boredom » “Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.”

» Ceremony » “It is superstitious to put one’s hopes in formalities, but arrogant to refuse to submit to them.”

» Choice » “The highest order of mind is accused of folly, as well as the lowest. Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.”

» Conflict » “We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.”

» Conflict » “The war existing between the senses and reason.”

» Conscience » “Men never do evil so fully and cheerfully as when we do it out of conscience.”

» Contradiction » “Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.”

» Deception » “We like to be deceived.”

» Desire » “Desire and force between them are responsible for all our actions; desire causes our voluntary acts, force our involuntary.”

» Effort » “The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory.”

» Enthusiasm » “Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.”

» Experience » “Two things control men’s nature, instinct and experience.”

» Faith » “Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.”

» Faith » “Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.”

» Faith » “Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.”

» Faith » “It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.”

» Fame » “Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.”

» Fame » “The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.”

» Freedom » “It is not good to be too free. It is not good to have everything one wants.”

» God » “If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then without hesitation, that He exists.”

» Good Deeds » “Ugly deeds are most estimable when hidden.”

» Gospel » “The gospel to me is simply irresistible.”

» Gossip » “I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.”

» Gossip » “If all men knew what each said of the other, there would not be four friends in the world.”

» Habit » “Habit is a second nature that destroys the first. But what is nature? Why is habit not natural? I am very much afraid that nature itself is only a first habit, just as habit is a second nature.”

» Habit » “Habit is the second nature which destroys the first.”

» Heart » “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing: we know this in countless ways.”

» Humility » “If you would have people speak well of you, then do not speak well of yourself.”

» Imagination » “Imagination decides everything.”

» Imagination » “Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which is everything in this world.”

» Infallibility » “We like security: we like the pope to be infallible in matters of faith, and grave doctors to be so in moral questions so that we can feel reassured.”

» Influence » “The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.”

» Jesus Christ » “Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.”

» Kindness » “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.”

» Law and Lawyers » “Law, without force, is impotent.”

» Life and Living » “Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world.”

» Life and Living » “We never live, but we hope to live; and as we are always arranging to be happy, it must be that we never are so.”

» Listening » “We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.”

» Love » “When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.”

» Mediocrity » “Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes it fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.”

» Misers and Misery » “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”

» Moderation » “To go beyond the bounds of moderation is to outrage humanity.”

» Obedience » “It is right that what is just should be obeyed. It is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed.”

» Originality » “The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.”

» Painters and Painting » “What a strange vanity painting is; it attracts admiration by resembling the original, we do not admire.”

» Passion » “Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.”

» People » “There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.”

» Persuasion » “People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found out by others.”

» Philosophers and Philosophy » “To have no time for philosophy is to be a true philosopher.”

» Philosophers and Philosophy » “The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries.”

» Pleasure » “To find recreation in amusement is not happiness.”

» Possibilities » “We must learn our limits. We are all something but none of us are everything.”

» Power » “The property of power is to protect.”

» Religion » “Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.”

» Rest » “Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.”

» Rest » “Our nature consist in motion; complete rest is death.”

» Science and Scientists » “Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.”

» Self-discovery » “One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.”

» Sin » “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”

» Space » “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces fills me with dread.”

» Speakers and Speaking » “Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.”

» Style » “When we see a natural style, we are astonished and charmed; for we expected to see an author, and we find a person.”

» Thoughts and Thinking » “Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.”

» Thoughts and Thinking » “If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.”

» Thoughts and Thinking » “Man is obviously made for thinking. Therein lies all his dignity and his merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought.”

» Thoughts and Thinking » “Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature; but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this.”

» Truth » “Those are weaklings who know the truth and uphold it as long as it suits their purpose, and then abandon it.”

» Unity » “Any unity which doesn’t have its origin in the multitudes is tyranny.”

» Wordiness » “I have made this letter a rather long one, only because I didn’t have the leisure to make it shorter.”

» Writers and Writing » “If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.”

» Writers and Writing » “The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.”