The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself.

To live within limits. To want one thing. Or a few things very much and love them dearly. Cling to them, survey them from every angle. Become one with them - that is what makes the poet, the artist, the human being.

The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.

To witness two lovers is a spectacle for the gods.

Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.

We often feel that we lack something, and seem to see that very quality in someone else, promptly attributing all our own qualities to him too, and a kind of ideal contentment as well. And so the happy mortal is a model of complete perfection--which we have ourselves created.

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive.