1657 – 1757. French scholar and writer. A popularizer of science. Secretary of the French Academy.
Quotes:
1. A person can rarely make others love himself, but can always make others respect himself.
2. A big hindrance for happiness is the expectation of too much happiness.
3. Women don't mind being loved fondly, but they want to be amused, and whoever does one thing without the other does nothing; women would even prefer to be amused without being loved than to be loved without being amused.
4. All people are wrong, but great people are aware of their mistakes.
5. The beauty of the mind evokes astonishment, the beauty of the soul evokes respect.
6. There's nothing gloomier than the lives of women who only knew how to be beautiful.
7. The knowledge that is most necessary for human life is the knowledge of oneself.
8. A beautiful woman is a heaven for the eyes, a hell for the soul, and the purgatory for one’s wallet.
9. A novel idea is a wedge that can only be driven with its thick end forward.
10. Generally accepted opinions can serve as a guide to sound thoughts only if accepted in the opposite sense.
