Not to him who is offensive to us are we most unfair, but to him who doth not concern us at all.

But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful! Distrust all those who talk much of their justice!

The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.

He who laughs best today, will also laughs last.

We must be cruel as well as compassionate: let us guard against becoming poorer than nature is!

A man unconsciously imagines that where he is strong, where he feels most thoroughly alive, the element of his freedom must lie.

What was a lie in the father becomes a conviction in the son.