"The world is a hospital for incurables."

"There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnit…"

"Neither for music, nor for poetry, nor for fine art have they any real or true sense and susceptibility, and it is mere mockery on their part, in their desire to please, if they affect any such thing."

"Reading is merely a substitute for thinking for oneself."

"The only way to be happy is to not be born."