Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.

Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.

Oysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again so that it serves the crab for meat. Such is the fate of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy of the listener.

Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience.

Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.

The motions of men must be such as suggest their dignity or their baseness.

The discovery of a good wine is increasingly better for mankind than the discovery of a new star.