Love and hatred are not blind, but are blinded by the fire they bear within themselves.

It seems to me that to take a book of mine into his hands is one of the rarest distinctions that anyone can confer upon himself. I even assume that he removes his shoes when he does so-not to speak of boots.

Learn to see - accustoming the eye to calm, to patience, to letting-things-come-to-it; learning to defer judgment, to encircle and encompass the question on all sides.

One can promise actions, but not feelings, for the latter are involuntary. He who promises to love forever or hate forever or be forever faithful to someone is promising something that is not in his power.

One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.

To have to fight the instincts - that is the definition of decadence: as long as life is ascending, happiness equals instinct.

Let thy virtue be too high for the familiarity of names, and if thou must speak of it, be not ashamed to stammer about it.