I believe that man is in the last resort so free a being that his right to be what he believes himself to be cannot be contested.

To err is human also in so far as animals seldom or never err, or at least only the cleverest of them do so.

It is astonishing how much the word infinitely is misused: everything is infinitely more beautiful, infinitely better, etc. The concept must have something pleasing about it, or its misuse could not have become so general.

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

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?

Never undertake anything unless you have the heart to ask Heaven's blessing on your undertaking.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.