A man finds himself, to his great astonishment, suddenly existing, after thousands and thousands of years of non-existence: he lives for a little while; and then, again, comes an equally long period when he must exist no more. The heart rebels against this, and feels that it cannot be true.

Pleasure is never as pleasant as we expected it to be and pain is always more painful. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don't believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.

The eternal being..., as it lives in us, also lives in every animal.

Intellect is a magnitude of intensity, not a magnitude of extensity.

Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

Before you take anything away, you must have something better to put in its place.