Knowledge is boundless,--human capacity, limited.

It's a question of prudence. Nobody has a high opinion of fishwives but who would dare offend them while walking through the fish market.

In order to forgive reason for the evil it has wrought on the majority of men, we must imagine for ourselves what man would be without his reason. 'Tis a necessary evil.

How many fools does it take to make up a public?

It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.

False modesty is the most decent of all lies.

In living and in seeing other men, the heart must break or become as bronze.