The public is a ferocious beast. One must either chain it up or flee from it.
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Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.
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Weakness on both sides is, the motto of all quarrels.
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History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below.
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We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies it is the first law of nature.
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Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother.
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Originality is nothing but judicious plagiarism.
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A long dispute means that both parties are wrong
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To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.
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Shun idleness is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
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Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.
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The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed.
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The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.
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In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
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He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage.
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All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
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History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead.
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If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.
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History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes.
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Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
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All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.
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I die adoring God,loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
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When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics.
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You must have the devil in you to succeed in the arts.
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Perfection is attained by slow degrees; she requires the hand of time.
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It is new fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions.
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We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
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All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.
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My prayer to God is a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous! God has granted it.
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God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.
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