We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works into the fire.

None are so seldom found alone, and are so soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves.

Pity a thing often avowed, seldom felt; hatred is a thing often felt, seldom avowed.

Mathematicians have sought knowledge in figures, Philosophers in systems, Logicians in subtleties, and Metaphysicians in sounds. It is not in any nor in all of these. He that studies only men, will get the body of knowledge without the soul, and he that studies only books, the soul without the body.

There are many that despise half the world; but if there be any that despise the whole of it, it is because the other half despises them.

It is astonishing how much more people are interested in lengthening life than improving it.

To despise our own species is the price we must often pay for knowledge of it.