To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom.

An unprejudiced mind is probably the rarest thing in the world; to nonprejudice I attach the greatest value.

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.

The pettiness of a mind can be measured by the pettiness of its adoration or its blasphemy.

Humanity cherishes its swaddling clothes; but it shall not grow up unless it can free itself from them. Turning down his mother's breast does not make the weaned child ungrateful. ... Rise up naked, valiant; make the sheaths crack; push aside the stakes; to grow straight you need no more than the thrust of your sap and the call of the sun.

The great artist is one whom constraint exalts, for whom the obstacle is a springboard.

Work and struggle and never accept an evil that you can change.