“Optimism: The doctrine or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong
“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another
“You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.
“Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them, they translate it into their own language, and forthwith it means something entirely different