quotes by Polymath Quotes

“Law is mind without reason.”

“That which is impossible and probable is better than that which is possible and improbable.”

“Strict punctuality is a cheap virtue.”

“We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.”

“Now the goodness that we have to consider is clearly human goodness, since the good or happiness which we set out to seek was human good and human happiness. But human goodness means in our view excellence of soul, not excellence of body.”

“He only has freedom who ideally loves freedom himself and is glad to extend it to others. He who cares to have slaves must chain himself to them. He who builds walls to create exclusion for others builds walls across his own freedom. He who distrusts freedom in others loses his moral right to it.”

“Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.”

“Proclaim not all though knowest, or all though owest.”

“Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.”

“The first object of the painter is to make a flat plane appear as a body in relief and projecting from that plane”

“Display is as false as it is costly.”

“A friend to all is a friend to none.”

“Don't overload Gratitude; if you do, she'll kick.”

“To all apparent beauties blind, each blemish strikes an envious mind.”

“Why do men seek honour? Surely in order to confirm the favorable opinion they have formed of themselves.”

“The honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.”

“when you came you cried and everybody smiled with joy; when you go smile and let the world cry for you.”

“Poor is the man who desires a lot”

“Virtue and Happiness are Mother and Daughter.”

“Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through the lapse of Time.”

“Things severed shall be united and shall acquire of themselves such virtue that they shall restore to men their lost memory: - That is the papyrus sheets, which are formed out of several strips and preserve the memory of the thoughts and deeds of men.”

“He that is rich need not live sparingly,and he that can live sparingly need not be rich.”

“He that hath a calling, hath an office of profit and honor.”

“Handle your tools without mittens.”

“The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.”

“Furnished as all Europe now is with Academies of Science, with nice instruments and the spirit of experiment, the progress of human knowledge will be rapid and discoveries made of which we have at present no conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence.”

“Trusting too much to others care is the ruin of many.”

“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”

“The movement of life has its rest in its own music.”

“The wisest and noblest teacher is nature itself.”

“A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.”

“Oh! Speculators on things, boast not of knowing the things that nature ordinarily brings about; but rejoice if you know the end of those things which you yourself device.”

“One mend-fault is worth two find-faults, but one find-fault is better than two make-faults.”

“What we know is not capable of being otherwise; of things capable of being otherwise we do not know, when they have passed outsideour observation, whether they exist or not. Therefore the object of knowledge is of necessity. Therefore it is eternal; for things that are of necessity in the unqualified sense are all eternal; and things that are eternal are ungenerated and imperishable.”

“Let thy discontents be thy secrets; if the world knows them 'twill despise thee and increase them.”

“Merely to exist is not enough.”

“The ideal man is his own best friend and takes delight in privacy.”

“I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.”

“Virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine ACTIONS than in the non-performance of base ones.”

“In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two works, industry and frugality.”

“Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet, and the vapour does not form salt water when it condenses again. This I know by experiment. The same thing is true in every case of the kind: wine and all fluids that evaporate and condense back into a liquid state become water. They all are water modified by a certain admixture, the nature of which determines their flavour.”

“Thou can'st not joke an enemy into a friend,but thou may'st a friend into an enemy.”

“Money is of a prolific generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more.”

“...it is prodigious the quantity of good that may be done by one man if he will make a business of it.”

“Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection.”

“Whereas the law is passionless, passion must ever sway the heart of man.”

“Power said to the world, "You are mine." The world kept it prisoner on her throne. Love said to the world, "I am thine." The world gave it the freedom of her house.”

“Hence both women and children must be educated with an eye to the constitution, if indeed it makes any difference to the virtue of a city-state that its children be virtuous, and its women too. And it must make a difference, since half the free population are women, and from children come those who participate in the constitution.”

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”

“Better slip with foot than tongue.”