No one is so completely disenchanted with the world, or knows it so thoroughly, or is so utterly disgusted with it, that when it begins to smile upon him he does not become partially reconciled to it.

The most solid pleasure in this life is the empty pleasure of illusion.

Since the world never faults a man who refuses to yield...it is generally recognized that weak men live in obedience to the world's will, while the strong obey only their own.

That is why all great men are modest: they consistently measure themselves not in comparison to other people but to the idea of perfection ever present in their minds, an ideal infinitely clearer and greater than any common people have, and they also realize how far they are from fulfilling their ideal.

He who doubts, knows - knows as much as can be known.

There's no greater sign of being a poor philosopher and wise man than wanting all of life to be wise and philosophical.

There are some centuries which - apart from everything else - in the art and other disciplines presume to remake everything because they know how to make nothing.