Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.

To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation, namely an imitation of its opposite.

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinion at all.

He was always smoothing and polishing himself, and in the end he became blunt before he was sharp.

There can hardly be a stranger commodity in the world than books. Printed by people who don't understand them; sold by people who don't understand them; bound, criticized and read by people who don't understand them; and now even written by people who don't understand them.

Good taste is either that which agrees with my taste or that which subjects itself to the rule of reason. From this we can see how useful it is to employ reason in seeking out the laws of taste.