The proof that man is the noblest of all creatures is that no other creature has ever denied it.

The highest level than can be reached by a mediocre but experienced mind is a talent for uncovering the weaknesses of those greater than itself.

What most clearly characterizes true freedom and its true employment is its misemployment.

There is something in our minds like sunshine and the weather, which is not under our control. When I write, the best things come to me from I know not where.

The great trick of regarding small departures from the truth as the truth itself - on which is founded the entire integral calculus - is also the basis of our witty speculations, where the whole thing would often collapse if we considered the departures with philosophical rigour.

To make a vow is a greater sin than to break one.

A schoolteacher or professor cannot educate individuals, he educates only species.