As a general rule, the longer a man's fame is likely to last, the later it will be in coming; for all excellent products require time for their development.

Rascals are always sociable, more's the pity! and the chief sign that a man has any nobility in his character is the little pleasure he takes in others' company.

This world could not have been the work of an all-loving being, but that of a devil, who had brought creatures into existence in order to delight in the sight of their sufferings.

At bottom, every state regards another as a gang of robbers who will fall upon it as soon as there is an opportunity.

Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.

Writers may be classified as meteors, planets, and fixed stars.

A book can never be anything more than the impression of its author’s thoughts. The value of these thoughts lies either in the matter about which he has thought, or in the form in which he develops his matter — that is to say, what he has thought about it.