Everything since Homer has improved, except poetry.

The artisan or scientist or the follower of whatever discipline who has the habit of comparing himself not with other followers but with the discipline itself will have a lower opinion of himself, the more excellent he is.

The surest way of concealing from others the boundaries of one s own knowledge is not to overstep them.

He who doubts, knows - knows as much as can be known.

If content with himself and mankind, a man is never harsh or curt.

He who has the courage to laugh is almost as much a master of the world as he who is ready to die.

That is why all great men are modest: they consistently measure themselves not in comparison to other people but to the idea of perfection ever present in their minds, an ideal infinitely clearer and greater than any common people have, and they also realize how far they are from fulfilling their ideal.