Mathematics is an obscure field, an abstruse science, complicated and exact; yet so many have attained perfection in it that we might conclude almost anyone who seriously applied himself would achieve a measure of success.

When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.

The authors who affect contempt for a name in the world put their names to the books which they invite the world to read.

I hate all children of precocious talent.

To wonder at nothing when it happens, to consider nothing impossible before it has come to pass.