The most unequivocal sign of contempt for man is to regard everybody merely as a means to one's own ends, or of no account whatever.

However much we may feel for the misery of someone close to us, we always act with some artificiality in their presence. We hold-back from telling them everything we think, often because we do not genuinely mean what we say; or because we take a pleasure in their plight, thankful that we are not affected.

Rather perish than hate and fear, and twice rather perish than make oneself hated and feared — this must some day become the highest maxim for every single commonwealth.

The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters.

Has a woman who knew she was well-dressed ever caught a cold?

Was mich nicht zugrunde richtet, macht mich starker.

I admire the courage and wisdom of Socrates in everything he did, said--and did not say.