One of the principal reasons that diverts those who are entering upon this knowledge so much from the true path which they should follow, is the fancy that they take at the outset that good things are inaccessible, giving them the name great, lofty, elevated, sublime. This destroys everything. I would call them low, common, familiar: these names suit it better; I hate such inflated expressions.

Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness

I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame. Thus prudes, by characters o'erthrown, Imagine that they raise their own.
Thus Scribblers, covetous of praise,
Think slander can transplant the bays.

but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself

Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness.

It is disastrous to name ourselves.

Knowledge often spoils devotion.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

You can’t destroy knowledge. You can stamp it under and burn it up and forbid it to be, but somewhere it will survive.

If the names are unknown knowledge of the things also perishes.

Thus man passes away; his name perishes from record and recollection; his history is as a tale that is told, and his very monument becomes a ruin.

A man of knowledge has no honor, no dignity, no family, no name, no country...

The less somebody knows and understands himself the less great he is, however great may be his talent. For this reason our scientists are not great.

A businessman who reads Business Week is lost to fame. One who reads Proust is marked for greatness.