A man has need of tough ears to hear himself fairly judged.

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

It is a stupid presumption to go about despising and condemning as false anything that seems to us improbable; this is a common fault in those who think they have more intelligence than the crowd.

Ambition is not a vice of little people.

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

Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are found and perfected by degrees, by often handling and polishing.

Human understanding is marvellously enlightened by daily conversation with men, for we are, otherwise, compressed and heaped up in ourselves, and have our sight limited to the length of our own noses.