Honest unaffected distrust of human abilities under all circumstances is the surest sign of strength of mind.

He who is enamored of himself will at least have the advantage of being inconvenienced by few rivals.

We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.

Here take back the stuff that I am, nature, knead it back into the dough of being, make of me a bush, a cloud, whatever you will, even a man, only no longer make me.

We have to believe that everything has a cause, as the spider spins its web in order to catch flies. But it does this before it knows there are such things as flies.

An hour-glass is a reminder not only of time's quick flight, but also of the dust to which we must at last return

Man is a masterpiece of creation if for no other reason than that, all the weight of evidence for determinism notwithstanding, he believes he has free will.