Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

There is only one inborn erroneous notion ... that we exist in order to be happy ... So long as we persist in this inborn error ... the world seems to us full of contradictions. For at every step, in great things and small, we are bound to experience that the world and life are certainly not arranged for the purpose of maintaining a happy existence ... hence the countenances of almost all elderly persons wear the expression of ... disappointment.

Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are its tormented souls.

We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.

No doubt, when modesty was made a virtue, it was a very advantageous thing for the fools, for everybody is expected to speak of himself as if he were one.

Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it.