The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur.

Many, no doubt, are well disposed, but sluggish by constitution and habit, and they cannot conceive of a man who is actuated by higher motives than they are. Accordingly they pronounce this man insane, for they know that they could never act as he does, as long as they are themselves.

Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about creating yourself. So live the life you imagined.

The heroes and discoverers have found true more than was previously believed, only when they were expecting and dreaming of something more than their contemporaries dreamed of, or even themselves discovered, that is, when they were in a frame of mind fitted to behold the truth. Referred to the world's standard, they are always insane. Even savages have indirectly surmised as much.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

The kind uncles and aunts of the race are more esteemed than its true spiritual fathers and mothers.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.