Self knowledge is best learned not by contemplation, but by action.

He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death and no one thanks him for it.

One should not search for anything behind the phenomena. They themselves are the message.

Woe to falsehood! it affords no relief to the breast, like truth; it gives us no comfort, pains him who forges it, and like an arrow directed by a god flies back and wounds the archer.

Patriotism corrupts history.

Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart.

To be active is the primary vocation of man.