There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

The fool tells me his reason; the wise man persuades me with my own.

. . . the man is free, we say, who exists for his own sake and not for another's.

They - Young People have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things - and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning - all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else.

For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.

Not to get what you have set your heart on is almost as bad as getting nothing at all.

All men, or most men, wish what is noble but choose what is profitable; and while it is noble to render a service not with an eye to receiving one in return, it is profitable to receive one. One ought therefore, if one can, to return the equivalent of services received, and to do so willingly; for one ought not to make a man one's friend if one is unwilling to return his favors.