[T]he moralists of Europe [have] pretended that beasts have no rights... a doctrine revolting/gross/barbarous... on which a native of the Asiatic uplands could not look without righteous horror.

History is the long, difficult and confused dream of Mankind.

Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it.

What a man is contributes much more to his happiness than what he has or how he is regarded by others.

First the truth is ridiculed. Then it meets outrage. Then it is said to have been obvious all along.

Our moral virtues benefit mainly other people; intellectual virtues, on the other hand, benefit primarily ourselves; therefore the former make us universally popular, the latter unpopular.

alent is like the marksman who hits a target which others cannot reach; genius is like the marksman who hits a target, as far as which others cannot even see.