A man may call to mind the face of his friend, but not his own. Here, then, is an initial difficulty in the way of applying the maxim, Know Thyself.

Always to see the general in the particular is the very foundation of genius.

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.

The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman at eighteen.

Whatever torch we kindle, and whatever space it may illuminate, our horizon will always remain encircled by the depth of night.

Consciousness makes the individual careful to maintain his own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather a limitation; and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.