I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Superficial knowledge ... is hurtful to those who possess true genius; for it necessarily draws them away from their main object, wastes their industry over details and subjects foreign to their needs and natural talent, and lastly does not serve,… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Excessive distrust is not less hurtfJul than its opposite. Most men become useless to him who is unwilling to risk being deceived. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
There are those who are so scrupulously afraid of doing wrong that they seldom venture to do anything. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
We are very wrong to think that some fault or other can exclude virtue, or to consider the alliance of good and evil as… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Men are not to be judged by what they do not know, but by what they know, and by the manner in which they… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
To withdraw ourselves from the law of the strong, we have found ourselves obliged to submit to justice. Justice or might, we must choose… — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
None are more liable to mistakes than those who act only on second thoughts. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
The mind is the soul's eye, not its source of power. That lies in the heart, in other words, in the passions. — Luc de Clapiers Copy Share Image
