Best 164 quotes of Luc De Clapiers on MyQuotes

We have neither the strength nor the opportunity to accomplish all the good and all the evil which we design.

We ought never to be afraid to repeat an ancient truth, when we feel that we can make it more striking by a neater turn, or bring it alongside of another truth, which may make it clearer, and thereby accumulate evidence. It belongs to the inventive faculty to see clearly the relative state of things, and to be able to place them in connection; but the discoveries of ages gone by belong less to their first authors than to those who make them practically useful to the world.

We should expect the best and the worst from mankind as from the weather.

Whatever affection we have for our friends or relations, the happiness of others never suffices for our own.

When an idea is not robust enough to stand expression in simple terms, it is a sign that it should be rejected.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

When we are convinced of some great truths, and feel our convictions keenly, we must not fear to express it, although others have said it before us. Every thought is new when an author expresses it in a manner peculiar to himself.

When we feel that we lack whatever is needed to secure someone else's esteem, we are very close to hating him

Whoever has seen the masked at a ball dance amicably together, and take hold of hands without knowing each other, leaving the next moment to meet no more, can form an idea of the world.

With kings, nations, and private individuals, the strongest assume to themselves rights over the weakest, and the same rule is followed by animals, by matter, by the elements, so that everything is performed in the universe by violence. And that order which we blame with some appearance of justice is the most universal, most absolute, most unchangeable, and most ancient law of nature.

You are not born for fame if you don't know the value of time.

You can purchase the mind of Pascal for a crown. Pleasures even cheaper are sold to those who give themselves up to them. It is only luxuries and objects of caprice that are rare and difficult to obtain; unfortunately they are the only things that touch the curiosity and taste of ordinary men.

You must maintain strength of body in order to preserve strength of mind.

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.