What eludes logic is the most precious element in us, and one can draw nothing from a syllogism that the mind has not put there in advance.

It is with fine sentiments that bad literature is made. Descend to the bottom of the well if you wish to see the stars.

Too chaste a youth leads to a dissolute old age.

There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.

The anxiety we have for the figure we cut, for our personage, is constantly cropping out. We are showing off and are often more concerned with making a display than with living. Whoever feels observed observes himself.

An experience teaches only the good observer; but far from seeking a lesson in it, everyone looks for an argument in experience, and everyone interprets the conclusion in his own way.

Understanding is the beginning of approving.