Those who have never been ill are incapable of real sympathy for a great many misfortunes

From the satisfaction of desire there may arise, accompanying joy and as it were sheltering behind it, something not unlike despair.

Christianity, above all, consoles; but there are naturally happy souls who do not need consolation. Consequently Christianity begins by making such souls unhappy, for otherwise it would have no power over them.

The most decisive actions of our life - I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future - are, more often than not, unconsidered.

'Therefore' is a word the poet must not know.

The individual never asserts himself more than when he forgets himself.

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