If the flower were not attached to its stem, it would flee at the approach of man, like the insect or the bird; for the attribute of man on the earth, at least as long as he does not better understand his role, is to worry and frighten what he is not interested in taming for utilitarian purposes. Man is skillful in mistreating everything he can use

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

He who makes great demands upon himself is naturally inclined to make great demands on others.

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves!

Understand that the only possession of any value is life.

One completely overcomes only what one assimilates.

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.