One of the greatest creations of the human mind is the art of reviewing books without having read them.

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.

Ambition and suspicion always go together.

If you are going to build something in the air it is always better to build castles than houses of cards.

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly does not yet know every kind of flattery.

The greatest events occur without intention playing any part in them; chance makes good mistakes and undoes the most carefully planned undertaking. The world's greatest events are not produced, they happen.

Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?