Rendering oneself unarmed when one had been the best-armed, out of a height of feeling-that is the means to real peace, which must always rest on a peace of mind.

Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness. With greatness--that means cynically and with innocence.

A great value of antiquity lies in the fact that its writings are the only ones that modern men still read with exactness.

How can anyone become a thinker unless he spends at least a third of every day away from passions, people, and books?

It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a privilege of the strong.

A few hours of mountain climbing make a blackguard and a saint two rather similar creatures.

Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth... Through words and concepts we shall never reach beyond the wall off relations, to some sort of fabulous primal ground of things.