There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving the desires of the century, or even of the decade, before it has done so itself.

We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is wise already.

Perseverance can lend the appearance of dignity and grandeur to many actions, just as silence in company affords wisdom and apparent intelligence to a stupid person.

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

Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.

Above all things expand the frontiers of science: without this the rest counts for nothing.

As nations improve, so do their gods.