There is no book so poor that it would not be a prodigy if wholly made by a single man.

The joy of life is variety.

I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of the earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things which they denote.

As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.

The truly strong and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.

Of those that spin out trifles and die without a memorial, many flatter themselves with high opinions of their own importance, and imagine that they are every day adding some improvement to human life.

Our minds should not be empty because if they are not preoccupied by good, evil will break in upon them.