If men were basically evil, who would bother to improve the world instead of giving it up as a bad job at the outset?

As against having beautiful workshops, studios, etc., one writes best in a cellar on a rainy day.

There is no stopping the world's tendency to throw off imposed restraints, the religious authority that is based on the ignorance of the many, the political authority that is based on the knowledge of the few

The man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man.

There is no stopping the world's tendency to throw off imposed restraints, the religious authority that is based on the ignorance of the many, the political authority that is based on the knowledge of the few.

Magnanimous people have no vanity, they have no jealousy, and they feed on the true and the solid wherever they find it. And, what is more, they find it everywhere.