It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us.

Life is neither to be wept over nor to be laughed at but to be understood.

And yet, just as our body would burst asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere were removed from it, so would the arrogance of men expand, if not to the point of bursting then to that of the most unbridled folly, indeed madness, if the pressure of want, toil, calamity and frustration were removed from their life. One can even say that we require at all times a certain quantity of care or sorrow or want, as a ship requires ballast, in order to keep on a straight course.

There are three stages in the revelation of truth. The first is to be ridiculed, the second is to be resisted and the third is to be considered self-evident.

A major difficulty in translation is that a word in one language seldom has a precise equivalent in another one.

Human life must be some form of mistake.

In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.