Man is a pliable animal, a being who gets accustomed to everything!

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them — the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.

The whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano key.

There are chance meetings with strangers that interest us from the first moment, before a word is spoken.

Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has others which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But finally there are still others which a man is even afraid to tell himself, and every decent man has a considerable number of such things stored away. That is, one can even say that the more decent he is, the greater the number of such things in his mind.

But man is so addicted to systems and to abstract conclusions that he is prepared deliberately to distort the truth, to close his eyes and ears, but justify his logic at all cost.

Without a clear perception of his reasons for living, man will never consent to live, and will rather destroy himself than tarry on earth, though he be surrounded with bread".