In affability there is no hatred of men, but for that very reason there is all too much contempt for men.

Truths are illlusions which we have forgotten are illusions.

Do not paint a picture either of God or the devil on your walls: this will ruin both your walls and the atmosphere.

There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

When one has finished building one's house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way - before one began.

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day.

It was the sick and decaying who despised the body and earth and invented the heavenly realm and the redemptive drops of blood: but they took even these sweet and gloomy poisons from body and earth. They wanted to escape their own misery, and the stars were too far for them.