People often become scholars for the same reason they become soldiers: simply because they are unfit for any other station. Their right hand has to earn them a livelihood; one might say they lie down like bears in winter and seek sustenance from their paws.

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

Some theories are good for nothing except to be argued about.

Imagine the world so greatly magnified that particles of light look like twenty-four-pound cannon balls.

The most perfect ape cannot draw an ape; only man can do that; but, likewise, only man regards the ability to do this as a sign of superiority.

It is too bad if you have to do everything upon reflection and can't do anything from early habit.

To many people virtue consists chiefly in repenting faults, not in avoiding them.