The thought that really crushes us is the thought of the futility of life of which death is the visible manifestation.

A dictionary can embrace only a small part of the vast tapestry of a language.

Man is doomed either squander his youth, which is the only time he has to store provisions for the coming years and provide for his own well-being, or to spend his youth procuring pleasures in advance for that time of life when he will be too old to enjoy them.

It's not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist.

Men are ready to suffer anything from others or from heaven itself, provided that, when it comes to words, they are untouched.

The artist's conception of his art or the scientist's of his science is usually as great as his conception of his own worth is small.

The surest way of concealing from others the boundaries of one s own knowledge is not to overstep them.