Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one's fatherland, which is perishable?

Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.

It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.

I have not the hope of being immortal, because the desire of it has not given me that vanity.

When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.

They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.

I picture the vast realm of the sciences as an immense landscape scattered with patches of dark and light. The goal towards which we must work is either to extend the boundaries of the patches of light, or to increase their number. One of these tasks falls to the creative genius; the other requires a sort of sagacity combined with perfectionism.