Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.
You can't live at all, unless you can live fully now.
There are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts.
Article IV – Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights. These borders can be determined only by the law.
Article I – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be founded only on the common good.
Background photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash
One word and all is saved One word and all is lost.
The most completely lost of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
Hide your life and spread your spirit.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
...and nobody knows the extent of his strength until he has tried.
We build too many walls and not enough bridges.
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.
It is not enough to take steps, which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.
Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing truth from error, which is properly what is called good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.
All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green,
Background photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Any man can make mistakes.
Miss one person and the world seems empty.
Background photo by Syd Sujuaan on Unsplash
At any moment you choose you can retire within yourself. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
All I know is that I know nothing.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
Background photo by Liana Mikah on Unsplash
How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.
Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”
Background photo by Etienne Bösiger on Unsplash
Where there is love there is life.
Background photo by Richard Jacobs on Unsplash
To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
Find quotes in french, in german, or in latin. Click on the translation icon.