For what purpose humanity is there should not even concern us: why you are here, that you should ask yourself: and if you have no ready answer, then set for yourself goals, high and noble goals, and perish in pursuit of them!

Life is an instinct for growth, for survival, for the accumulation of forces, for power.

Some men are born posthumously.

To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.

Many a one cannot loosen his own fetters, but is nevertheless his friend's emancipator.

In intercourse with scholars and artists one readily makes mistakes of opposite kinds: in a remarkable scholar one not infrequently finds a mediocre man; and often, even in a mediocre artist, one finds a very remarkable man.

Even the bravest only rarely have courage for what they really know.