No one writes anything worth writing, unless he writes entirely for the sake of his subject.

There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject's sake, and those who write for writing's sake.

At bottom, every state regards another as a gang of robbers who will fall upon it as soon as there is an opportunity.

Reasonable and vicious are quite consistent with each other, in fact, only through their union are great and far-reaching crimes possible

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

Boredom is an evil that is not to be estimated lightly. It can come in the end to real despair. The public authority takes precautions against it everywhere, as against other universal calamities.

Solitude will be welcomed or endured or avoided, according as a man's personal value is large or small.