Just as the largest library, badly arranged, is not so useful as a very moderate one that is well arranged, so the greatest amount of knowledge, if not elaborated by our own thoughts, is worth much less than a far smaller volume that has been abundantly and repeatedly thought over.

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

Every genius is a great child; he gazes out at the world as something strange, a spectacle, and therefore with purely objective interest

To be alone is the fate of all great minds—a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.

The heavy armor becomes the light dress of childhood; the pain is brief, the joy unending.

The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time.

Every human perfection is linked to an error which it threatens to turn into