I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.

It is never too late to become the person you always thought you could be.

Our virtues are dearer to us the more we have had to suffer for them. It is the same with our children. All profound affection entertains a sacrifice. Our thoughts are often worse than we are, just as they are often better.

Wine and the sun will make vinegar without any shouting to help them.

I hold it a blasphemy to say that a man ought not to fight against authority: there is no great religion and no great freedom that has not done it, in the beginning.

trouble always seems heavier when it is only one's thought and not one's bodily activity that is employed about it.

I'm not one of those that can see the cat in the dairy and wonder what she's there for.