No profit whatever can possibly be made but at the expense of another. . . . The Merchant only thrives, and grows rich, by the pride, wantonness and debauchery of youth; the husbandman by the price and scarcity of grain; the architect by the ruin of buildings; lawyers, and officers of Justice, by the suits and contentions of men; nay even the honor and office of Divines are derived from our death and vices. A physician takes no pleasure in the health even of his friends . . . nor a soldier in the peace of his country and so of the rest. Essays

In this life our sorrows are either not very long or not very great because nature either overcomes them by habits or puts an end to them by sinking under their weight. But in hell the torments cannot be overcome by habit, for while they are of terrible intensity they are at the same time of continual variety, each pain, so to speak, taking fire from another and re-endowing that which has enkindled it with a still fiercer flame. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

 Europe's colonization of Africa had nothing to do with differences between European and African peoples.  Guns, Germs And Steel

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. The Valley of Fear