Any man who inflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.

Any man who inflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands read more

It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he does not understand it.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints read more

Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.

Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.

Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone.

There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people: we are laying up for ourselves the read more

There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people: we are laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may read more

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives infusion from the will and affections; which proceed sciences which may be called "sciences as one would." For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections color and infect the understanding.