The eternal silence of these infinite spaces [the heavens] terrifies me.

Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed.

When we see a natural style, we are quite surprised and delighted, for we expected to see an author and we find a man.

The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.

I have made this [letter] longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.