Any foolish boy can stamp on a beetle, but all the professors in the world cannot make a beetle.

A happy life is impos­si­ble; the best that a man can attain is a heroic life.

There is only one healing force, and that is nature; in pills and ointments there is none. At most they can give the healing force of nature a hint about where there is something for it to do.

It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer.

Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head.

A man must have grown old and lived long in order to see how short life is.

A reproach can only hurt if it hits the mark. Whoever knows that he does not deserve a reproach can treat it with contempt.