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.

If you've never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like.

It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

Progress has not followed a straight ascending line, but a spiral with rhythms of progress and retrogression, of evolution and dissolution.

A man's shortcomings are taken from his epoch; his virtues and greatness belong to himself.

The spirit from which we act is the principal matter.