“When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.”

“You do not mean by mystery what a Catholic does. You mean an interesting uncertainty: the uncertainty ceasing, interest ceases also…”

“In a controversy, the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”

“When words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.”

“No ruler is ever really dethroned by his subjects. No hand but his own ever takes the crown from his head. … When he ceases to lead … the revolt which casts him from power is only the outward manifestation of his previous abdication.”

“No sane person should believe that something is 'subjective' merely because it cannot be settled beyond controversy.”

“May those men who are animated by the true scientific spirit cease to believe that they are obliged to consider only subjects of public utility; …because, one must not hide it, the field of applications, so rich and fertile today, would not take long to be blighted by sterility if it ceased to be fertilized and revivified by the beneficial light which theoretical research radiates and pours incessantly upon it.”

“Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring.”

“Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring. ”

“God created woman. And boredom did indeed cease from that moment — but many other things ceased as well! Woman was God's second mistake.”