I say to myself: "Who are you to measure infinite power?

I love idleness. I love to busy myself about trifles, to begin a hundred things and not finish one of them, to come and go as my fancy bids me, to change my plan every moment, to follow a fly in all its circlings, to try and uproot a rock to see what is underneath, eagerly to begin a ten-years' task to give it up after ten minutes: in short, to fritter away the whole day inconsequentially and incoherently, and to follow nothing but the whim of the moment.

The only moral lesson which is suited for a child--the most important lesson for every time of life--is this: 'Never hurt anybody.

Our greatest evil flows from ourselves.

Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves.

Whatever may be our natural talents, the art of writing is not acquired all at once.

If there were a nation of Gods, it would govern itself democratically. A government so perfect is not suited to men.