Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.

The muffled syllables that Nature speaks Fill us with deeper longing for her word; She hides a meaning that the spirit seeks, She makes a sweeter music than is heard.

Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited.

Self-assurance is contemptible and fatal unless it is self-knowledge.

The highest form of vanity is love of fame.

Everything in nature is lyrical in its ideal essence, tragic in its fate, and comic in its existence.

Our occasional madness is less wonderful than our occasional sanity.