It is the vice of scholars to suppose that there is no knowledge in the world but that of books.

If we use no ceremony towards others, we shall be treated without any. People are soon tired of paying trifling attentions to those who receive them with coldness, and return them with neglect.

The definition of genius is that it acts unconsciously, and those who have produced immortal works have done so without knowing how or why.

The great requisite for the prosperous management of ordinary business is the want of imagination.

Death puts an end to rivalship and competition. The dead can boast no advantage over us, nor can we triumph over them.

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.

To a superior race of being the pretensions of mankind to extraordinary sanctity and virtue must seem... ridiculous.