The better the state is established, the fainter is humanity. To make the individual uncomfortable, that is my task.

We criticize a man or a book most sharply when we sketch out their ideal.

For the woman, the man is a means: the end is always the child.

He who denies himself much in great matters will readily indulge himself in small things.

The relatives of a suicide hold it against him that out of consideration for their reputation he did not remain alive.

I call a lie: wanting not to see something one does see, wanting not to see something as one sees it... The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.

The vanity of others runs counter to our taste only when it runs counter to our vanity.