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.

All men would be masters of others, and no man is lord of himself.

Action has magic, grace and power in it.

We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

It is a great pleasure to transport one's-self into the spirit of the times; to see how a wise man has thought before us, and to what a glorious height we have at last carried it.

Talent develops in quiet, alone; character is sharpened in the torrent of the world.

The work of art may have a moral effect, but to demand moral purpose from the artist is to make him ruin his work.