If you treat men the way they are you never improve them. If you treat them the way you want them to be, you do.

One mind is enough for a thousand hands.

Certain books seem to be written, not that we might learn from them, but in order that we might see how much the author knows.

It is a great error to take oneself for more than one is, or for less than one is worth.

The history of a man is in his character.

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.

Even though the world as a whole progresses, youth must always start again from the beginning, and as individuals go through the epochs of the world's culture.