The world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dicebox in hand, shaking the dice. – Denis Diderot
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter. – Denis Diderot
Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful. – Denis Diderot
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid. – Denis Diderot
I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as most people, being always excited; women, wine, fame, the table, even ambition, sate now and then, but every turn of the card and cast of the dice keeps the gambler alive — besides one can game ten times longer than one can do any thing else. – Lord (George Gordon) Byron