There are moments when very little truth would be enough to shape opinion. One might be hated at extremely low cost.

Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness.

Hatred, for the man who is not engaged in it, is a little like the odor of garlic for one who hasn't eaten any.

Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.

Falsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful; there are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind.

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.

A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to create a whole science. Nowadays a path is scarcely opened up when the crowd begins to pour in.