30 quotes
To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.
The fruit of demonstration is science.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
Perfection is the reason for being.
Elevations on the Mysteries (1727)
The essence of the heretic, that is to say of someone who has a particular opinion, is that he clings to his own ideas; and the essence of the Catholic, that is to say of the universal, is to prefer to his sentiments the common sentiment of the entire Church.
History of Variations in the Protestant Churches (1688)
But God laughs at the prayers we make to him to avert public misfortunes, when we do not oppose what is being done to bring them about. What am I saying? when we approve of and subscribe to it, even if with repugnance.
History of Variations in the Protestant Churches (1688)
There is therefore no better way to judge animals well than by studying oneself first. For even though we have something higher than the animal, we are animals, and we have experience both of what makes the animal in us and of what makes for reasoning and reflection.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
A man does not want to believe that he is proud, or cowardly, or lazy, or hotheaded; he wants to believe that he is the right sort; and although his conscience reproaches him for his faults, he prefers to suppress the feeling he has of them, than to have the unpleasantness of knowing about them.
Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of One's Self (1677)
Ah! the perfidious English!
Only great souls know the grandeur there is in charity.
Attributed
Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity without damage. It is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a single flaw.
Attributed