He who seeks intelligence lacks intelligence.

Verily, I do not want to be like the ropemakers: They drag out their threads and always walk backwards.

Pity is extolled as the virtue of prostitutes.

If we affirm one moment, we thus affirm not only ourselves but all existence. For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event - and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed.

A book calls for pen, ink, and a writing desk; today the rule is that pen, ink, and a writing desk call for a book.

It is only because man believes himself to be free, not because he is free, that he experiences remorse and pricks of conscience.

I am affected, not because you have deceived me, but because I can no longer believe in you.