We are nearer neighbors to ourselves than the whiteness of snow or the weight of stones are to us: if man does not know himself, how should he know his functions and powers?

Wise people are foolish if they cannot adapt to foolish people.

This notion [skepticism] is more clearly understood by asking "What do I know?"

Opinion is a powerful party, bold, and without measure.

In general I ask for books that make use of learning, not those that build it up.

This very Rome that we behold deserves our love ...: the only common and universal city.

In his commerce with men I mean him to include- and that principally- those who live only in the memory of books. By means of history he will frequent those great souls of former years. 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.