Performance

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it

Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately

It is a greater work to educate a child, in the true and larger sense of the word, than to rule a state

Practice makes perfect, so be careful what you practice

Difficulty is the element, and resistance the true work of a man

Do anything rather than give yourself to reverie

It is better to plan less and do more

You should trust any man in his own art provided he is skilled in it.

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done

In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons

After all, science is essentially international, and it is only through lack of the historical sense that national qualities have been attributed to it

I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.

We gain nothing by being with such as ourselves. We encourage one another in mediocrity. I am always longing to be with men more excellent than myself

To be content with life, or to live merrily, rather, all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow

Those who never have time do least

Nature never makes excellent things for mean or no uses

Man may be considered as a superior species of animal that produces philosophies and poems in about the same way a silkworm produces their cocoons and bees their hives

Knowledge is like a baobab tree - one person's arms are not enough to encompass it

If I’d listened to my consumers, I’d have given them a faster horse