The course of the seasons is a piece of clockwork, with a cuckoo to call when it is spring.

The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.

The writer who cannot sometimes throw away a thought about which another man would have written dissertations, without worry whether or not the reader will find it, will never become a great writer.

The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.

So-called professional mathematicians have, in their reliance on the relative incapacity of the rest of mankind, acquired for themselves a reputation for profundity very similar to the reputation for sanctity possessed by theologians.

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

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.