A man who has not enough originality to think out a new title for his book will be much less capable of giving it new contents.

To be alone is the fate of all great minds—a fate deplored at times, but still always chosen as the less grievous of two evils.

If God made this world, then i would not want to be the God. It is full of misery and distress that it breaks my heart.

True brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself.

If we suspect that a man is lying, we should pretend to believe him; for then he becomes bold and assured, lies more vigorously, and is unmasked.

I observed once to Goethe that when a friend is with us we do not think the same of him as when he is away. He replied, "Yes! because the absent friend is yourself, and he exists only in your head; whereas the friend who is present has an individuality of his own, and moves according to laws of his own, which cannot always be in accordance with those which you form for yourself.

A man must have grown old and lived long in order to see how short life is.