“The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time.”

“A man learns to skate by staggering about and making a fool of himself. Indeed he progresses in all things by resolutely making a fool of himself.”

“The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor: he took my measure anew every time he saw me, whilst all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me.”

“A learned man is an idler who kills time by study.”

“A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.”

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

“[Man] progresses in all things by resolutely making a fool of himself.”