What is fruitful alone is true.

Few are open to conviction, but the majority of men are open to persuasion

Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her.

What is the true test of character unless it be its progressive development in the bustle and turmoil, in the action and reaction of daily life.

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.

The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the nations one after the other emerge.

Daily life is more instructive than the most effective book.