Marrying means, to grasp blindfolded into a sack hoping to find out an eel out of an assembly of snakes.

Personal courage is really a very subordinate virtue-a virtue, indeed, in which we are surpassed by the lower animals; or else you would not hear people say, as brave as a lion.

I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.

One should use common words to say uncommon things

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

The greatest wisdom is to make the enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest folly: for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.

Empirical sciences prosecuted purely for their own sake, and without philosophic tendency are like a face without eyes.