At best, the true philosopher can fulfil his mission very imperfectly, which is to pilot himself, or at most a few voluntary companions who may find themselves in the same boat.

The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we see in the maniac, the miser, the drunkard or the ape.

Nothing can be meaner than the anxiety to live on, to live on anyhow and in any shape.

Beautiful things, when taste is formed, are obviously and unaccountably beautiful.

The strongest feelings assigned to the conscience are not moral feelings at all; they express merely physical antipathies.

One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human.

Religions are the great fairy tales of conscience.