There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.

With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.

Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can be true and untrue at the same time.

In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

It is only a man's own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else's meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.

If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.

It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.

A man's delight in looking forward to and hoping for some particular satisfaction is a part of the pleasure flowing out of it, enjoyed in advance. But this is afterward deducted, for the more we look forward to anything the less we enjoy it when it comes.

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed.

I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage.