no.1 There is nothing worth thinking but it has been thought before; we must only try to think it again.

no.9 Unqualified activity, of whatever kind, leads at last to bankruptcy.

no.10 In the works of mankind, as in those of nature, it is really the motive which is chiefly worth attention.

no.15 General ideas and great conceit are always in a fair way to bring about terrible misfortune.

no.19 It is only men of practical ability, knowing their powers and using them with moderation and prudence, who will be successful in worldly affairs.

no.21 ...man in his fragile boat has the rudder placed in his hand, just that he may not be at the mercy of the waves, but follow the direction of his own insight.

no.30 If I am to listen to another man's opinion, it must be expressed positively. Of things problematical I have enough in myself.

no.37 When a man is old he must do more than when he was young.

no.44 Theory is in itself of no use, except in so far as it makes us believe in the connection of phenomena.

no.48 In contemplation as in action, we must distinguish between what may be attained and what is unattainable. Without this, little can be achieved, either in life or in knowledge.

no.49 'Le sense commun est le genie de l'humanite.' [Common sense is the genius of humanity]

no.52 ...as a rule, a man's knowledge, of whatever kind it may be, determines what he shall do and what he shall leave undone

no.70 In the world the point is, not to know men, but at any given moment to be cleverer than the man who stands before you. You can prove this at every fair and from every charlatan.

no.93 Whoso shrinks from ideas ends by having nothing but sensations.

no.107 To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess: it may be taken, but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.

no.135 Scholars are generally malignant when they are refuting others; and if they think a man is making a mistake, they straightway look upon him as their mortal enemy.

no.137 It is much easier to recognise error than to find truth; for error lies on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to search for it is not given to every one.

no.146 Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then criticism will gradually yield to him.

no.162 There are people who make no mistakes because they never wish to do anything worth doing.

no.211 Enthusiasm is of the greatest value, so long as we are not carried away by it.

no.231 Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.

no.250 You can force anything on society so long as it has no sequel. [JLJ - there is hope for my paper after all...]

no.276 Fools and wise folk are alike harmless. It is the half-wise, and the half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.

no.309 The real scholar learns how to evolve the unknown from the known, and draws near the master.

no.362 If you miss the first button-hole, you will not succeed in buttoning up your coat.

no.368 The man who wants to be active and has to be so, need only think of what is fitting at the moment, and he will make his way without difficulty. This is where women have the advantage, if they understand it.

no.370 There are men who put their knowledge in the place of insight.

no.381 Opponents fancy they refute us when they repeat their own opinion and pay no attention to ours.

no.384 I am quite prepared to find that many a reader will disagree with me; but when he has a thing before him in black and white, he must let it stand. Another reader may perhaps take up the very same copy and agree with me.

no.394 The thinker makes a great mistake when he asks after cause and effect: they both together make up the indivisible phenomenon.

no.399 Every phenomenon is within our reach if we treat it as an inclined plane, which is of easy ascent, though the thick end of the wedge may be steep and inaccessible.

no.410 The most original authors of modern times are so, not because they produce what is new, but only because they are able to say things the like of which seem never to have been said before.

no.411 Thus the best sign of originality lies in taking up a subject and then developing it so fully as to make every one confess that he would hardly have found so much in it.

no.415 We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive, are anxious to say something important, and the results are most curious.

no.417 Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.

no.537 Our advice is that every man should remain in the path he has struck out for himself, and refuse to be overawed by authority, hampered by prevalent opinion, or carried away by fashion.

no.566 There is nothing more odious than the majority; it consists of a few powerful men to lead the way; of accommodating rascals and submissive weaklings; and of a mass of men who trot after them, without in the least knowing their own mind.

no.571 If a man devotes himself to the promotion of science, he is firstly opposed, and then he is informed that his ground is already occupied. At first men will allow no value to what we tell them, and then they behave as if they knew it all themselves.

no.577 The finest achievement for a man of thought is to have fathomed what may be fathomed, and quietly to revere the unfathomable.