A man always writes absolutely well whenever he writes in his own manner, but the wigmaker who tries to write like Gellert ... writes badly.

The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.

To read means to borrow; to create out of one s readings is paying off one's debts.

Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.

He who understands the wise is wise already.

History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.

I don’t think much about guys from the past. I’m glad I knew them, but there’s a reason they didn’t make it into my future.

The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.

I believe in books. I believe more in cross-media - how characters are adapting across mediums.

People who actually have money don't want to talk about it. They want to talk about everything else.

I will find the good in this loss. I will make something happen that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

My goal with every show we put on Geek & Sundry is to make it that big of a success, not just within the video but within fandom itself.

I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a decent meal.

Recreational number theory [...] is that part of number theory that is too difficult to study.

I beat myself off 17 times in one day. That's the worst beating I've ever handed out. I was so sore that it was hard to get that last load out.