Fear of ridicule begets the worst cowardice.

The itch is a mean, unconfessable, ridiculous malady; one can pity someone who is suffering ; someone who wants to scratch himself makes one laugh.

Whoever starts out toward the unknown must consent to venture alone.

The most important things to say are those which often I did not think necessary for me to say - because they were too obvious.

Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.

I advise the young to tell themselves constantly that most often it is up to them alone.

Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.