When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be.

It is commonly the personal character of a writer which gives him his public significance. It is not imparted by his genius. Napoleon said of Corneille, "Were he living I would make him a king;" but he did not read him. He read Racine, yet he said nothing of the kind of Racine.

Error is to truth as sleep is to waking. I have observed that one turns, as if refreshed, from error back to truth.

The mind is found most acute and most uneasy in the morning. Uneasiness is, indeed, a species of sagacity - a passive sagacity. Fools are never uneasy.

To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities

A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing.

For a brave man deserves a well-endowed girl.