The conquest of the earth... is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only... not a sentimental pretence but an idea.

I -- I alone know how to mourn for him as he deserves.' But while we were still shaking hands, such a look of awful desolation came upon her face that I perceived she was one of those creatures that are not the playthings of Time. For her he had died only yesterday. And, by Jove! the impression was so powerful that for me, too, he seemed to have died only yesterday -- nay, this very minute. I saw her and him in the same instant of time -- his death and her sorrow -- I saw her sorrow in the very moment of his death. Do you understand? I saw them together -- I heard them together.

In plucking the fruit of memory one runs the risk of spoiling its bloom, especially if it has got to be carried into the market.

You can't breathe dead hippo waking, sleeping, and eating, and at the same time keep your precarious grip on existence.

It is not Justice the servant of men, but accident, hazard, Fortune-the ally of patient Time-that holds an even and scrupulous balance.

A writing may be lost; a lie may be written; but what the eye has seen is truth and remains in the mind!

Mathematics commands all my respect, but I have no use for engines.