I can well conceive a man without hands, feet, head. But I cannot conceive man without thought; he would be a stone or a brute.

We conceal it from ourselves in vain - we must always love something. In those matters seemingly removed from love, the feeling is secretly to be found, and man cannot possibly live for a moment without it.

Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.

Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness... and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient enough to amuse him.

If you gain, you gain all. If you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that He exists.

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?