The majority of those who put together collections of verses or epigrams resemble those who eat cherries or oysters: they begin by choosing the best and end by eating everything.

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.

Swallow a toad every morning to be sure of encountering nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.

Of all the days, the day on which one has not laughed is surely the most wasted.

The public! The public! How many fools does it take to make up a public?

What one knows best is ... what one has learned not from books but as a result of books, through the reflections to which they have given rise.

Chance is a nickname for Providence.

Change of fashions is the tax which industry imposes on the vanity of the rich.

The majority of those who put together collections of verses or epigrams resemble those who eat cherries or oysters: they begin by choosing the best and end by eating everything.

Where violence reigns, reason is weak.