“The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.”

“Our character is composed of our ideas and our feelings: and, since it has been proved that we give ourselves neither feelings nor ideas, our character does not depend on us. If it did depend on us, there is nobody who would not be perfect. If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing”

“It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.”

“One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion”

“A State can be no better than the citizens of which it is composed. Our labour now is not to mould States but make citizens.”

“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?”

“If one doesn't get what one wants in one world, one can always get it in another”