It's not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist.

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.

People are ridiculous only when they try or seem to be that which they are not.

Old age is the supreme evil, for it deprives man of all pleasures while allowing his appetites to remain, and it brings with it every possible sorrow. Yet men fear death and desire old age.

We remember childhood as the fabulous years of our lives, and nations remember their childhood as fabulous years.

A dictionary can embrace only a small part of the vast tapestry of a language.

Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything.