A man of genius can hardly be sociable, for what dialogues could indeed be so intelligent and entertaining as his own monologues?

Honor means that a man is not exceptional; fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost.

After your death you will be what you were before your birth.

Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of thought.

There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject's sake, and those who write for writing's sake. ... The truth is that when an author begins to write for the sake of covering paper, he is cheating the reader; because he writes under the pretext that he has something to say.

Every time a man is begotten and born, the clock of human life is wound up anew to repeat once more its same old tune that has already been played innumerable times, movement by movement and measure by measure, with insignificant variations.

A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.