He who is enamored of himself will at least have the advantage of being inconvenienced by few rivals.

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.

People often become scholars for the same reason they become soldiers: simply because they are unfit for any other station. Their right hand has to earn them a livelihood; one might say they lie down like bears in winter and seek sustenance from their paws.

He was then in his fifty-fourth year, when even in the case of poets reason and passion begin to discuss a peace treaty and usually conclude it not very long afterwards.

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.

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

Never undertake anything for which you wouldn't have the courage to ask the blessings of heaven.