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.

Look at a man the way he is and he only becomes worse, but look at him as if he were what he could be, then he becomes what he should be.

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

To live within limits. To want one thing. Or a few things very much and love them dearly. Cling to them, survey them from every angle. Become one with them - that is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.

If man thinks about his physical or moral state he usually discovers that he is ill.

Humor is one of the elements of genius--admirable as an adjunct; but as soon as it becomes dominant, only a surrogate for genius.

It is one of Heaven's best gifts to hold such a dear creature in one's arms.