If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.

There are things that don't deserve to be said briefly.

It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of.

Marriage simplifies life and complicates the day.

Whether man is disposed to yield to nature or to oppose her, he cannot do without a correct understanding of her language

A married couple are well suited when both partners usually feel the need for a quarrel at the same time.

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.