Descartes constructed as noble a road of science, from the point at which he found geometry to that to which he carried it, as Newton himself did after him. ... He carried this spirit of geometry and invention into optics, which under him became a completely new art.

Life is thickly sown with thorns. I know no other remedy than to pass rapidly over them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

Fanaticism, to which men are so much inclined, has always served not only to render them more brutalized but more wicked.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.