The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it.

He who has nothing and wants something is less frustrated than he who has something and wants more.

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.

We see through others only when we see through ourselves.

To believe that if only we had this or that we would be happy, or to pursue any excessive desire, diverts us from seeing that happiness depends on an adequate self.

A peculiar side of credulity is that it is often joined with a proneness to imposture. The association of believing and lying is not characteristic solely of children. They inability or unwillingness to see things as they are promotes both gullibility and charlatanism.