No one can take from us the joy of the first becoming aware of something, the so-called discovery. But if we also demand the honor, it can be utterly spoiled for us, for we are usually not the first. What does discovery mean, and who can say that he has discovered this or that? After all it's pure idiocy to brag about priority; for it's simply unconscious conceit, not to admit frankly that one is a plagiarist.

It is better to be doing the most insignificant thing than to reckon even a half-hour insignificant.

Dispel not, the happy delusions of children.

Should I not be proud, when for twenty years I have had to admit to myself that the great Newton and all the mathematicians and noble calculators along with him were involved in a decisive error with respect to the doctrine of color, and that I among millions was the only one who knew what was right in this great subject of nature?

The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.

Accepting good advice means nothing other than to strengthen one's own ability.

Our passions are the true phoenixes; when the old one is burnt out, a new one rises from its ashes.