30 quotes
The greatest weakness of all weaknesses is to fear too much to appear weak.
Heresies have never been more than particular opinions, since they began with five or six men.
Avertissement aux Protestants I (1689)
In the midst of the disguises and artifices that reign among men, it is only attention and vigilance that can save us from surprises.
Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture (1709)
Human wisdom learns a lot if it learns to be silent.
Elevations on the Mysteries (1727)
The usual destiny of those who refuse to listen to the truth is to be led to their ruin by deceptive prophets.
Discourse on Universal History (1681)
All demonstrated truth is necessary, eternal and immutable.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
Human happiness consists in living according to reason.
Pensées chrétiennes et morales (1704)
Faith is an adherence of the heart to eternal truth.
Exhortation aux nouvelles Catholiques (1685)
God is the one in whom non-being has no place.
Elevations on the Mysteries (1727)
It is the greatest of all weaknesses to be too afraid of appearing weak.
Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture (1709)
The first of all empires is that which one has over one's desires.
Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture (1709)
The world itself makes you sick of the world.
Sermon pour la profession de Madame de la Vallière (1675)
Deism, that is to say a disguised atheism.
History of Variations in the Protestant Churches (1688)
It is only the first obstacle which counts to conquer modesty.
Some always allege that excessive freedom ultimately destroys itself; while others fear on the contrary that authority, which by its nature always grows, will finally degenerate into tyranny.
Discourse on Universal History (1681)
There is nothing worse than anarchy, that is to say living without government and without laws.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
Let us not believe that our soul is a portion of the divine nature, as some philosophers have dreamed. God is not a whole that can be shared out.
Discourse on Universal History (1681)
That inexorable boredom that is at the core of human life since man has lost the taste for God!
Thus it belongs to the spirit, that is to say to the understanding, to judge beauty; because to judge beauty is to judge order, proportion and rightness; things that only the mind can perceive.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe things because we want them to be so and not because we have seen them for what they are.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)