If people insist that honor is dearer than life itself, what they really mean is that existence and well-being are as nothing compared with other people's opinions. Of course, this may be only an exaggerated way of stating the prosaic truth that reputation, that is, the opinion others have of us, is indispensable if we are to make any progress in the world.

Consciousness makes the individual careful to maintain his own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather a limitation; and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

Any book, which is at all important, should be reread immediately

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.