Some people come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede -- not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above 14.

In every man there is something of all men.

Astronomy is perhaps the science whose discoveries owe least to chance, in which human understanding appears in its whole magnitude, and through which man can best learn how small he is.

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

Never undertake anything unless you have the heart to ask Heaven's blessing on your undertaking.

Affectation is a very good word when someone does not wish to confess to what he would none the less like to believe of himself.

There is no more important rule of conduct in the world than this: attach yourself as much as you can to people who are abler than you and yet not so very different that you cannot understand them.