In Science, all tends to stir, to change, to form fresh …

In Science, all tends to stir, to change, to form fresh surfaces. All denies, destroys, creates, replaces all. What was ground yesterday is put into the hopper again today. The colossal machine, Science, never rests. It is never satisfied; it is insatiable for improvement, of which the absolute knows nothing. Vaccination is called in question, the lightning-rod is called in question. Jenner may have erred, Franklin may have been mistaken; let us search again. This agitation is noble. Science is restless around man; she has her own reasons. Science plays in progress the part of utility. Let us reverence this superb handmaiden.

William Shakespeare by Victor Hugo 

The French man is self-confident because he considers himself individually, both as regards mind and …

The French man is self-confident because he considers himself individually, both as regards mind and body, irresistibly captivating to either men or women. The Englishman is self-confident through his absolute conviction that he is a citizen of the most fortunately constituted kingdom in the world, and because, as an Englishman, he knows always and in all circumstances what it is requisite for him to do, and also knows that all that he does as an Englishman is correct beyond cavil. The Italian is self-confident because he is excitable, and easily forgets himself and others. The Russian is self-confident for the precise reason that he knows nothing, and wishes to know nothing, because he believes that it is impossible to know anything. But the German is self-confident in a worse way than all the rest above and beyond all the rest, because he imagines that he knows the truth, – the science which he has himself invented, but which for him is absolute truth ! 

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy