Man is a masterpiece of creation . . .

A writer who wishes to be read by posterity must not be averse to putting hints which might give rise to whole books, or ideas for learned discussions, in some corner of a chapter so that one should think he can afford to throw them away by the thousand.

He swallowed a lot of wisdom, but all of it seems to have gone down the wrong way.

The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery.

I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.

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.

A donkey appears to me like a horse translated into Dutch.