He saw mankind going through life in a childlike manner... which he loved but also despised.... He saw them toiling, saw them suffering, and becoming gray for the sake of things which seemed to him to be entirely unworthy of this price, for money, for little pleasures, for being slightly honoured.

Friendship is identification and difference

To recognize causes is to think, and through thought alone feelings become knowledge and are not lost, but become real and begin to mature.

It was lovely, and tempting, to exert power over men and to shine before others, but power also had its perditions and perils.

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

A tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me!... Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.

It is good to taste for yourself everything you need to know. That worldly pleasures and wealth are not good things, I learned even as a child. I knew it for a long time, but only now have I experienced it.