The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water, and he is even condemned to find much of his own mind.

True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would be willing to repeat.

His mind is so open - so open that ideas simply pass through it.

It is good to know what a man is, and also what the world takes him for. But you do not understand him until you have learnt how he understands himself.

The force of the blow depends on the resistance. It is sometimes better not to struggle against temptation. Either fly or yield at once.

The man who has ceased to fear has ceased to care.

Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived. It is a pity that this is still the only knowledge of their wives at which some men seem to arrive.