It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

Who are you to condemn another's sin? He who condemns sin becomes part of it, espouses it.

...the most dangerous shortsightedness consists in underestimating the mediocre.

A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.

God! how is it that we fail to recognize that the mask of pleasure, stripped of all hypocrisy, is that of anguish?

Fear, true fear, is a savage frenzy. Of all the insanities of which we are capable, it is surely the cruelest. There is naught to equal its drive, and naught can survive its thrust.

Optimism approves of everything, submits to everything, believes everything; it is the virtue above all of the taxpayer.