Two Chinamen visiting Europe went to the theatre for the first time. One of them occupied himself with trying to understand the theatrical machinery, which he succeeded in doing. The other, despite his ignorance of the language, sought to unravel the meaning of the play. The former is like the astronomer, the latter the philosopher.

A man of talent will strive for money and reputation; but the spring that moves genius to the production of its works is not as easy to name

The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.

To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake

The life of every individual is really always a tragedy, but gone through in detail, it has the character of a comedy.

As a general rule, the longer a man's fame is likely to last, the later it will be in coming; for all excellent products require time for their development.

... that when you're buying books, you're optimistically thinking you're buying the time to read them. (Paraphrase of Schopenhauer)