"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."

"Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones."

"When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others."

"The main things which seem to me important on their own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection."

"Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact."

"Patriots always talk of dying for their country but never of killing for their country."

"The gods never let us love and be wise at the same time."

"A gift, with a kind countenance, is a double present."

"Heroes are often the most ordinary of men."

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."

"Free people, remember this maxim: We may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost."

"Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it."