The little incidents and accidents of every day fill us with emotion, anxiety, annoyance, passion, as long as they are close to us, when they appear so big, so important, so serious; but as soon as they are borne down the restless stream of time they lose what significance they had; we think no more of them and soon forget them altogether. They were big only because they were near.

If a man wants to read good books, he must make a point of avoiding bad ones; for life is short, and time and energy limited.

If two men who were friends in their youth meet again when they are old, after being separated for a life-time, the chief feeling they will have at the sight of each other will be one of complete disappointment at life as a whole; because their thoughts will be carried back to that earlier time when life seemed so fair as it lay spread out before them in the rosy light of dawn, promised so much — and then performed so little.

The problem with Germans is that they look in the clouds for what lies at their feet.

Faith is like love: it does not let itself be forced.

What people commonly call Fate is, as a general rule, nothing but their own stupid and foolish conduct.

Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with its probability.