Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.

When an idea is just rising on the horizon, the soul's temperature with respect to it is usually very cold. Only gradually does the idea develop its warmth, and it is hottest (which is to say, exerting its greatest influence) when belief in the idea is already once again in decline.

Man, a hybrid of plant and ghost.

Every attainment, every step forward in knowledge, follows from courage, from hardness against oneself, from cleanliness in relation to oneself.

Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.

Never to talk about oneself is a very refined form of hypocrisy.

We criticize a man or a book most sharply when we sketch out their ideal.