Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play.

Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition — and perchance to some excess — I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond.

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

We cannot fail in following nature.

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

The archer who overshoots his mark does no better than he who falls short of it.

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.