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

If all else fails, the character of a man can be recognized by nothing so surely as by a jest which he takes badly.

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 receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still.

Every man has his moral backside which he refrains from showing unless he has to and keeps covered as long as possible with the trousers of decorum.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.