Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving one's ego except by love

Seldom in the business and transactions of ordinary life, do we find the sympathy we want.

Nothing is worse than active ignorance.

Must it ever be thus-that the source of our happiness must also be the fountain of our misery? The full and ardent sentiment which animated my heart with the love of nature, overwhelming me with a torrent of delight, and which brought all paradise before me, has now become an insupportable torment, a demon which perpetually pursues and harrasses me.

There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable.

But when all is said, the greatest art is to limit and isolate oneself.

What one doesn't understand one doesn't possess.