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.

What a man can do and suffer is unknown to himself till some occasion presents itself which draws out the hidden power. Just as one sees not in the water of an unruffled pond the fury and roar with which it can dash down a steep rock without injury to itself, or how high it is capable of rising; or as little as one can suspect the latent heat in ice-cold water.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

Something of great importance now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in that the latter is a reality, and related to the former as something to nothing.

... that when you're buying books, you're optimistically thinking you're buying the time to read them. (Paraphrase of Schopenhauer)

Happiness consists in frequent repetition of pleasure