Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it. - Blaise Pascal

There is nothing we can now call our own, for what we call so is the effect of art; crimes are made by decrees of the senate, or by the votes of the people; and as here-to-fore we are burdened by vices, so now we are oppressed by laws.

One has followed the other in an endless circle, for it is certain that as man's insight increases so he finds both wretchedness and greatness within himself. In a word man knows he is wretched. Thus he is wretched because he is so, but he is truly great because he knows it.

The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.