Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity and baseness of mankind take in every country. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right.

A man of talent will strive for money and reputation; but the spring that moves genius to the production of its works is not as easy to name

The young should early be trained to bear being left alone; for it is a source of happiness and peace of mind.

Truth is most beautiful undraped.

There is one respect in which beasts show real wisdom... their quiet, placid enjoyment of the present moment.