The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.

There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving the desires of the century, or even of the decade, before it has done so itself.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

The fruits of philosophy are the important thing, not the philosophy itself. When we ask the time, we don't want to know how watches are made.

A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on.

Everyone is a genius at least once a year.

I forget most of what I read, just as I do most of what I have eaten, but I know that both contribute no less to the conservation of my mind and my body on that account.