Our own peculiar human condition is that we are as fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.

It is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection, for all mortal things are full of it.

All we do is to look after the opinions and learning of others: we ought to make them our own.

Habituation puts to sleep the eye of our judgment.

If you want it to be so, history can be a waste of time; it can also be, if you want it to be so, a study bearing fruit beyond price.

The relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them.

Is it not enough to make me come back to life out of spite, to have someone who spat in my face while I existed come and rub my feet when I am beginning to exist no longer?