Truth is always served by great minds, even if they fight it.

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.

Literature: proclaiming in front of everyone what one is careful to conceal from one's immediate circle

We find it easy to believe that praise is sincere: why should anyone lie in telling us the truth?

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

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.

Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.