One should not wrongly reify 'cause' and 'effect,' as the natural scientists do (and whoever, like them, now 'naturalizes' in his thinking), according to the prevailing mechanical doltishness which makes the cause press and push until it 'effects' its end; one should use 'cause' and 'effect' only as pure concepts, that is to say, as conventional fictions for the purpose of designation and communication-not for explanation.

Every relationship that does not raise us up pulls us down, and vice versa; this is why men usually sink down somewhat when they take wives while women are usually somewhat raised up. Overly spiritual men require marriage every bit as much as they resist it as bitter medicine.

You say that I should be your teacher! See to it that I am your pinion and not your brake.

Men inadvertently comport themselves with nobility when they have grown accustomed to wanting nothing from others and always giving to them.

We have to be careful that in throwing out the devil, we don't throw out the best part of ourselves.

Not infrequently, we encounter copies of important human beings; and here, too, as in the case of paintings, most people prefer the copies to the originals.

Sensuality often makes love grow too quickly, so that the root remains weak and is easy to pull out.