Whoever wants to set a good example must add a grain of foolishness to his virtue: then others can imitate and yet at the same time surpass the one they imitate-which human beings love to do.

Time, space, and causality are only metaphors of knowledge, with which we explain things to ourselves.

The love of power is the demon of mankind.

Every man has his price. This is not true. But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing.

Industriousness and conscientiousness are often at odds, because industriousness wants to pick the still sour fruit from the tree,while conscientiousness lets it hang there too long, until it falls and bruises.

The one seeks a midwife to deliver his thoughts, the other, someone to assist: thus a good conversation comes into being.

The truth is ugly: we have art so as not to perish from the truth.