Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.

Always to see the general in the particular is the very foundation of genius.

The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men;... and why, on the contrary, they are inferior to men as regards justice, and less honourable and conscientious.

To use many words to communicate few thoughts is everywhere the unmistakable sign of mediocrity. To gather much thought into few words stamps the man of genius.

Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.