National literature does not mean much these days; now is the age of world literature, and every one must contribute to hasten thearrival of that age.

There is nothing by which men display their character so much as in what they consider ridiculous... Fools and sensible men are equally innocuous. It is in the half fools and the half wise that the great danger lies.

Do not, I beg you, look for anything behind phenomena. They are themselves their own lesson.

To quit smoking, you must first want to quit, but then you must also do the quitting

I will say with Lorenzo de Medici that those who do not hope for another life are always dead to this one.

There is repetition everywhere, and nothing is found only once in the world.

Who is the most sensible person? The one who finds what is to their own advantage in all that happens to them.