“Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.”

“Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.”

“The only way to make men speak well of us is to do it.”

“It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.”

“Said Candide to Cacambo:My friend, you see how perishable are the riches of this world; there is nothing solid but virtue, and the happiness of seeing Cunegonde once more.”

“Minds differ still more than faces.”

“Men argue. Nature acts.”