Genuine contempt, on the other hand, is the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth.

Pride is an established conviction of one’s own paramount worth in some particular respect, while vanity is the desire of rousing such a conviction in others, and it is generally accompanied by the secret hope of ultimately coming to the same conviction oneself. Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself. Vanity is the desire to arrive at this appreciation indirectly, from without.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power. You can think about only what you know, so you ought to learn something; on the other hand, you can know only what you have thought about.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

Any foolish boy can stamp on a beetle, but all the professors in the world cannot make a beetle.