It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big.

We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.

Every original idea is first ridiculed, then vigorously attacked, and finally taken for granted.

If there is anything in the world that can really be called a man's property, it is surely that which is the result of his mental activity.

No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.

Optimism is not only a false but also a pernicious doctrine, for it presents life as a desirable state and man's happiness as its aim and object. Starting from this, everyone then believes he has the most legitimate claim to happiness and enjoyment. If, as usually happens, these do not fall to his lot, he believes that he suffers an injustice, in fact that he misses the whole point of his existence.

Faith is like love: it does not let itself be forced.