I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal, also his fine art, finally also the only kind of piety he knows, his 'divine service.'

Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.

It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable; it is precisely thereby that it attracts the more subtle minds. It seems that the hundred-times-refuted theory of the "free will" owes its persistence to this charm alone; some one is always appearing who feels himself strong enough to refute it.

The golden age, when rambunctious spirits were regarded as the source of evil.

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.

There is sense in hoping for recognition in a distant future only when we take it for granted that mankind will remain essentially unchanged, and that whatever is great is not for one age only but will be looked upon as great for all time.