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

People who never have any time on their hands are those who do the least.

Nowadays three witty turns of phrase and a lie make a writer.

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?

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

A good part of the fame of most celebrated men is due to the shortsightedness of their admirers

When a book and a head collide and a hollow sound is heard, must it always have come from the book?