A reproach can only hurt if it hits the mark. Whoever knows that he does not deserve a reproach can treat it with contempt.

Genuine contempt, on the other hand, is the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.

Thus also every keen pleasure is an error and an illusion, for no attained wish can give lasting satisfaction.

Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience.

Genius is its own reward; for the best that one is, one must necessarily be for oneself. . . . Further, genius consists in the working of the free intellect., and as a consequence the productions of genius serve no useful purpose. The work of genius may be music, philosophy, painting, or poetry; it is nothing for use or profit. To be useless and unprofitable is one of the characteristics of genius; it is their patent of nobility.

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

To be alone is the fate of all great minds—a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.