One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.

He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.

My days are as happy as those reserved by God for his elect; and whatever be my fate hereafter, I can never say that I have not tasted joy— the purest joy of life.

The deed is everything, the glory is naught.

Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it's the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The Skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.

He only fears men who does not know them, and he who avoids them will soon misjudge them.

It is the great triumph of genius to make the common appear novel.