A decent man plays his part to the best of his ability, regardless of the taste of the gallery.
A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public.
Few people are prepared to use their reason without fear or favor, or bold enough to apply it relentlessly to every moral, political and social issue….
Few people are...bold enough to apply [reason] relentlessly...to kings and ministers, to men in high places. And if we don't, we're doomed to remain mediocre.
Having lots of ideas doesn't mean you're clever, any more than having lots of soldiers means you're a good general.
I've destroyed my passions, rather like a violent man who, finding he can't control his horse, kills it.
Men whose only concern is other people's opinion of them are like actors who put on a poor performance to win the applause of people of poor taste….
Most social institutions seem to be designed to keep man in a state of intellectual and emotional mediocrity that makes him more fit to govern or be governed.
Petty souls are more susceptible to ambition than great ones, just as straw or thatched cottages burn more easily than palaces.
Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.
Society is not, as is commonly supposed, the development of nature, but rather her dismantling and entire recasting. It is a second building made from the ruins of the first.
The best way to put the shortcomings of society, and, indeed, the whole of mankind, in their proper place is to joke about them.
The most completely wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed.
What I learned, I no longer know. What little I still know, I have guessed.
[Joking is] proof of your superiority over...the things you're poking fun at.