Nature cares nothing for logic, our human logic: she has her own, which we do not recognize and do not acknowledge until we are crushed under its wheel

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.

Oh youth, youth! You don't worry about anything; you seem to possess all the treasures of the universe--even sorrow gives you pleasure, even grief suits you.... And perhaps the whole secret of your charm lies not in your ability to do everything, but in your ability to think that you will do everything.

What did I hope for, what did I expect, what rich future did I foresee, when the phantom of my first love, rising up for an instant, barely called forth one sigh, one mournful sentiment?

Take what you can yourself, and don't let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life.

I believe love produces a certain flowering of the whole personality which nothing else can achieve.

The past was a dream wasn't it? And who ever remembers dreams?