It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.

Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.