A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out.

A handful of soldiers is always better than a mouthful of arguments.

He who is in love with himself has at least this advantage - he won't encounter many rivals.

If you are going to build something in the air it is always better to build castles than houses of cards.

There are very many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation, namely an imitation of its opposite.

We cannot remember too often that when we observe nature, and especially the ordering of nature, it is always ourselves alone we are observing.

What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.

With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.

Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and times - and this is the worst of all - before we have new ones.

Actual aristocracy cannot be abolished by any law: all the law can do is decree how it is to be imparted and who is to acquire it.

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.

He who says he hates every kind of flattery, and says it in earnest, certainly does not yet know every kind of flattery.

I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.

I believe that man is in the last resort so free a being that his right to be what he believes himself to be cannot be contested.

If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger.

If the little bit you have is nothing special in itself, at least find a way of saying it that is a little bit special.