Sometimes in conversation the sound of our own voice distracts us and misleads us into making assertions that in no way express our true opinions.

That which intoxicates, the sensually ecstatic, the sudden surprise, the urge to be profoundly stirred at any price -- dreadful tendencies!

Shared joys make a friend, not shared sufferings.

To discover he is loved in return ought really to disenchant the lover with the beloved.

Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms wants not to be learned but to be learned by heart.

whatever is profound loves masks; what is most profound even hates image and parable.

When a scholar of the old culture vows no longer to have anything to do with men who believe in progress, he is right. For the old culture has its greatness and goodness behind it, and an historical education forces one to admit that it can never again be fresh.