The most spiritual human beings, assuming they are the most courageous, also experience by far the most painful tragedies: but it is precisely for this reason that they honor life, because it brings against them its most formidable weapons.

So far there has been no philosopher in whose hands philosophy has not grown into an apology for knowledge; on this point, at least, every one is an optimist, that the greatest usefulness must be ascribed to knowledge. They are all tyrannized over by logic, and this is optimism in its essence.

When the gratitude that many owe to one discards all modesty, then there is fame.

One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth.

So long as the priest, that professional negator, slanderer and poisoner of life, is regarded as a superior type of human being, there cannot be any answer to the question: What is Truth?

A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.

An attack on the roots of passion means an attack on the roots of life.