Everyone is a genius at least once a year.

People who have read a good deal rarely make great discoveries. I do not say this in excuse of laziness, but because invention presupposes an extensive independent contemplation of things.

One of our forefathers must have read a forbidden book.

Before we blame we should first see whether we cannot excuse.

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.

Brevity: To say at once whatever is to be said.

We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that occupies him.