Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things absorb the better part of one's time, the better part of one's strength, and in the end there is left a life grovelling and curtailed, worthless and trivial, and there is no escaping or getting away from it—just as though one were in a madhouse or prison.

What a fine weather today! Can’t choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself.

If you can't distinguish people from lap-dogs, you shouldn't undertake philanthropic work.

Even while lying, you'll be believed if you speak with authority.

The time has come for writers, especially those who are artists, to admit that in this world one cannot make anything out, just as Socrates once admitted it, just as Voltaire admitted it.

There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.