One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation.

To work for the common good is the greatest creed.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words.

But merely accepting authoritarian truth, even if that truth has some virtue, does not bring skepticism to an end. To blindly accept a truth one has never reflected upon retards the advance of reason. Our world rots in deceit. . . . Just as a tree bears the same fruit year after year and at the same time fruit that is new each year, so must all permanently valuable ideas be continually created anew in thought. But our age pretends to make a sterile tree bear fruit by tying fruits of truth onto its branches.

It seemed to me a matter of course that we should all take our share of the burden of pain which lies upon the world.

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.