In the blessings as well as in the ills of life, less depends upon what befalls us than upon the way in which it is met.

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.

You must treat a work of art like a great man: stand before it and wait patiently till it deigns to speak.

Memory works like the collection glass in the Camera obscura: it gathers everything together and therewith produces a far more beautiful picture than was present originally.

Any foolish boy can stamp on a beetle, but all the professors in the world cannot make a beetle.

Whoever wants his judgment to be believed, should express it coolly and dispassionately; for all vehemence springs from the will. And so the judgment might be attributed to the will and not to knowledge, which by its nature is cold.

The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite of the organism, a pensioner, as it were, who dwells with the body.