Every man hath a general desire of his own happiness and likewise a variety of particular affections passions and appetites to particular external objects.

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart given surnames and Christian names and sent to walk the earth.

Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others but only those who have greater designs.

Great passions my dear don't exist: they're liars fantasies. What do exist are little loves that may last for a short or a longer while.

The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo.

Only passions great passions can elevate the soul to great things.

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.