Men are a thousand times more intent on becoming rich than on acquiring culture, though it is quite certain that what a man IS contributes more to his happiness than what he HAS.

That human life must be some kind of mistake is sufficiently proved by the simple observation that man is a compound of needs which are hard to satisfy; that their satisfaction achieves nothing but a painless condition in which he is only given over to boredom . . .

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.

If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner...if I let it slip from my tongue, I am ITS prisoner.

The cause of laughter is simply the sudden perception of the incongruity between a concept and the real project.

We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.