The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.

A major difficulty in translation is that a word in one language seldom has a precise equivalent in another one.

I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.

Personal courage is really a very subordinate virtue-a virtue, indeed, in which we are surpassed by the lower animals; or else you would not hear people say, as brave as a lion.

Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.

The principle of contradiction establishes merely the agreement of concepts, but does not itself produce concepts.

The general history of art and literature shows that the highest achievements of the human mind are, as a rule, not favourably received at first.