To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand.

An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains.

When everything has its proper place in our minds, we are able to stand in equilibrium with the rest of the world.

The fire which enlightens is the same fire which consumes.

In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties.

Nothing is more characteristic of a man than the manner in which he behaves toward fools.

Our true history is scarcely ever deciphered by others. The chief part of the drama is a monologue, or rather an intimate debate between God, our conscience, and ourselves. Tears, grieves, depressions, disappointments, irritations, good and evil thoughts, decisions, uncertainties, deliberations --all these belong to our secret, and are almost all incommunicable and intransmissible, even when we try to speak of them, and even when we write them down.