Man is a masterpiece of creation . . .

To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

As I take up my pen I feel myself so full, so equal to my subject, and see my book so clearly before me in embryo, I would almost like to try to say it all in a single word.

A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.

Great men too make mistakes, and many among them do it so often that one is almost tempted to call them little men.

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