We say that someone occupies an official position, whereas it is the official position that occupies him. - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Prejudices are so to speak the mechanical instincts of men: through their prejudices they do without any effort many things they would find too difficult to think through to the point of resolving to do them.

There is no greater impediment to progress in the sciences than the desire to see it take place too quickly.

There is something in our minds like sunshine and the weather, which is not under our control. When I write, the best things come to me from I know not where.