The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the nations one after the other emerge.
The historian’s duty is to separate the true from the false, the certain from the uncertain, and the doubtful from that which cannot be accepted.
The greatest piece of folly is that every man thinks himself compelled to hand down what people think they have known.
The great art is judiciously to limit and isolate one’s self.
The further knowledge advances, the nearer we come to the unfathomable: the more we know how to use our knowledge, the better we see that the unfathomable is of no practical use.
The errors of a man are what make him really lovable.
The deed is all and nothing is the fame.
The coward only threatens when he is safe.
The Christian religion, which, often enough dismembered and scattered abroad, will ever in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.
The Beautiful is a manifestation of secret laws of nature, which, without its presence, would never have been revealed.
Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are.
Talent is nurtured in solitude; character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.