Saints cannot arise where there have been no warriors, nor philosophers where a prying beast does not remain hidden in the depths.

For a man who has done his natural duty, death is as natural as sleep.

Knowledge is not eating, and we cannot expect to devour and possess what we mean. Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace.

The universe, as far as we can observe it, is a wonderful and immense engine.... If we dramatize its life and conceive its spirit, we are filled with wonder, terror and amusement, so magnificent is the spirit.

Old places and old persons in their turn, when spirit dwells in them, have an intrinsic vitality of which youth is incapable, precisely, the balance and wisdom that come from long perspectives and broad foundations

Wisdom comes by disillusionment.

The spirit's foe in man has not been simplicity, but sophistication.