Prayer as a means to effect a private end is theft and meanness.

Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate saints.

Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men.

History no longer shall be a dull book. It shall walk incarnate in every just and wise man. You shall not tell me by language and titles a catalogue of the volumes you have read. You shall make me feel what periods you have lived.

When private men shall act with original views, the lustre will be transferred from the actions of kings to those of gentlemen.

A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is as insupportable as any other dullness.

Society has no bribe for me.