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.

Much can be inferred about a man from his mistress: in her one beholds his weaknesses and his dreams.

Libraries can in general be too narrow or too wide for the soul.

Nothing makes one old so quickly as the ever-present thought that one is growing older.

With God thoughts are colors, with us they are pigments-even the most abstract one may be accompanied by physical pain.

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

The most perfect ape cannot draw an ape; only man can do that; but, likewise, only man regards the ability to do this as a sign of superiority.