Every human perfection is allied to a defect into which it threatens to pass, but it is also true that every defect is allied to a perfection.

The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.

Every genius is a great child; he gazes out at the world as something strange, a spectacle, and therefore with purely objective interest

On the path of actions, great heart is the chief recommendation; on that works, a great head.

That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom . . .

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.

Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.