Reading means borrowing.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on.

A good method of discovery is to imagine certain members of a system removed and then see how what is left would behave: for example, where would we be if iron were absent from the world: this is an old example.

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

The proof that man is the noblest of all creatures is that no other creature has ever denied it.

To be content with life or to live merrily, rather all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow.