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…there are men whom a happy disposition, a strong desire of glory and esteem, inspire with the same love for justice and virtue, which men in general have for riches and honours.

— Claude Adrien Helvétius De l'esprit or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties (1758)

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Notes from Wikiquote

But the number of these men is so small, that I only mention them in honour of humanity.

More quotes by Claude Adrien Helvétius

No nation has reason to regard itself superior to others by virtue of its innate endowment.

De l'esprit or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties (1758)

All men have an equal disposition for understanding.

De l'esprit or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties (1758)

Discipline is, in a manner, nothing else but the art of inspiring the soldiers with greater fear of their officers than of the enemy.

De l'esprit or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties (1758)

The degree of genius necessary to please us is pretty nearly the same proportion that we ourselves have.

De l'esprit or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties (1758)

By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.

A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties & His Education, Vol. I (1773)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Claude Adrien Helvétius (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.