We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people.

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.

Solitude will be welcomed or endured or avoided, according as a man's personal value is large or small.

The highest, most varied and lasting pleasures are those of the mind.

There is not a grain of dust, not an atom that can become nothing, yet man believes that death is the annhilation of his being.

That I could clamber to the frozen moon. And draw the ladder after me.

It is most important to allow the brain the full measure of sleep which is required to restore it; for sleep is to a man's whole nature what winding up is to a clock.