The loveliest creations of men are persistently painful. What would be the description of happiness? Nothing, except what prepares and then what destroys it.

It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle.

An opinion, though it is original, does not necessarily differ from the accepted opinion; the important thing is that it does not try to conform to it.

In other people's company I felt I was dull, gloomy, unwelcome, at once bored and boring.

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 easier to lead men to combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct them toward the patient labors of peace.

Nothing blocks happiness like happiness remembered.