If all alms were given only from pity, all beggars would have starved long ago.

We talk about taking "pleasure in a thing": but in truth it is pleasure in ourselves, mediated by a thing.

So long as men praise you, you can only be sure that you are not yet on your own true path but on someone else's.

But he who is hated by the people, as the wolf by the dogs - is the free spirit, the enemy of fetters, the non-adorer, the dweller in the woods.

A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.

The great end of art is to strike the imagination with the power of a soul that refuses to admit defeat even in the midst of a collapsing world.

These four, however, seek the freedom of their will at the very point where they are most securely chained. It is as if the silkworm sought freedom of will in spinning. What is the reason?