All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.

Desire is the very essence of man.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character.

Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself. ~ ETHICS

Freedom is the recognition of necessity. ~ ETHICS

Happiness, pure happiness, is a virtue in itself.

We feel and know that we are eternal.

As for the terms good and bad, they indicate no positive quality in things regarded in themselves, but are merely modes of thinking, or notions which we form from the comparison of things with one another.

He, who has a true idea, simultaneously knows that he has a true idea, and cannot doubt of the truth of the thing perceived.

He who loves according to the guidance of reason strives as much as possible to repay the hatred, anger, or contempt of others toward himself with love and generosity.

Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune.

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature.

I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand.

It is the part of a wise man to feed himself with moderate pleasant food and drink and to take pleasure with perfumes, with the beauty of growing plants, dress, music, sports, and theaters.

Will and intellect are one and the same. ~ ETHICS

Things could not have been brought into being by God in any manner or in any order different from that which has in fact obtained.

The order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things. ~ ETHICS

A vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.

An emotion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it.

How would it be possible if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

Knowledge of God is the mind's greatest good; its greatest virtue is to know God.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.