From “Thoughts.” Translation of C. Keegan Paul.

THE SWEETNESS of glory is so great that join it to what we will, even to death, we love it.

    Evil is easy, and its forms are infinite; good is almost unique. But a certain kind of evil is as difficult to find as what is called good; and often on this account this particular kind of evil gets passed off as good. There is even needed an extraordinary greatness of soul to attain to it as well as to good.

    We are so presumptuous that we would fain be known by the whole world, even by those who shall come after, when we are no more. And we are such triflers that the esteem of five or six persons about us diverts and contents us.

    Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a camp-follower, a cook, a porter makes his boasts, and is for having his admirers; even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against it, yet desire the glory of having written well as those who read their works wish a reputation for reading; I who write this have, may be, this desire and perhaps those will who read it.

    In towns through which we pass we care not whether men esteem us, but we do care if we have to live there any time. How long is needed? A time in proportion to our vain and fleeting life.

    The condition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.

    Whoever will know fully the vanity of man has but to consider the causes and the effects of love. The cause is an unknown quantity, and the effects are terrible. This unknown quantity, so small a matter that we cannot recognize it, moves a whole country, princes, armies, and all the world.

    Cleopatra’s nose: had it been shorter, the face of the world had been changed.

    Nothing better shows the frivolity of men than to consider what are the causes and what the effects of love, for all the universe is changed by them.