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

Man is almost always as wicked as his needs require.

The world laughs at things it would really prefer to admire, and like Aesop's fox it criticizes things it covets.

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.

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

What do you do there, moon, in the sky? Tell me what you do, silent moon. When evening comes you rise and go contemplating wastelands; then you set.