Someone said: "I have been prejudiced against myself from my earliest childhood: hence I find some truth in all blame and some stupidity in all praise. I generally estimate praise too poorly and blame too highly.

Because men really respect only that which was founded of old and has developed slowly, he who wants to live on after his death must take care not only of his posterity but even more of his past.

Let them like the Tibetans, chew the cud of their "om mane padme hum" innumerable times, or, as in Benares, count the name of the God Ram-Ram-Ram (etc. with or without charm) on their fingers; or honour Vishnu with his thousand names of invocation, Allah with his ninety-nine; or they may make use of the prayer-wheels and the rosary: the main thing is that they are settled down for a time at this work and are tolerable to look at. This kind of prayer has been invented for the benefit of the pious who have thought and elevations of their own.

Without music, life would be a mistake... I would only believe in a God who knew how to dance.

To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle. Leaving out the third case: one must be both - a philosopher.

A woman's pity, which is talkative, carries the sick person's bed to the public marketplace.

Inexperienced girls flatter themselves with the notion that it is in their power to make a man happy.