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

Many intelligent people, when about to write . . . , force on their minds a certain notion about style, just as they screw up their faces when they sit for their portraits.

Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.

There is no greater impediment to progress in the sciences than the desire to see it take place too quickly.

Nothing can contribute more to peace of soul than the lack of any opinion whatever.

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.

It is almost everywhere the case that soon after it is begotten the greater part of human wisdom is laid to rest in repositories.