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

Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.

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.

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.