Morality, to be effective, has to be well-reasoned. To want to repress evil only by coercion, and to obtain morality by a kind of education using con… - African Spir

De même que l'humanité a commencé par des outils en silex, et est arrivé peu à peu aux machines si puissantes et perfectionnées d'aujourd'hui, de même l'homme, en se façonnant de génération en génération, arrivera à un degré de perfection dont l'exemple ne nous a été donné, jusqu'à présent, que par de rares individus.

To succeed in brilliant businesses, to achieve great success, that is what the ambition and efforts of the majority of men aim for. But at the end of the day what do they get for it? Softer cushions, better meat, maybe decorations or medals - that is all. And to think that there are found serious men who consume their whole existence in the pursuit and the expectation of these trivialities.

Man is in pursuit of two goals: he is looking for happinesse and, being by essence empty, he is trying to fill his life; the latter reason plays a more considerable role than we ordinarily think. What we take for vainglory, ambition, love of power and riches, is often, indeed, a need to mask this emptiness.