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.

Whatever liberates our spirit, without also giving us mastery over ourselves, is destructive.

Every man bears something within him that, if it were publicly announced, would excite feelings of aversion.

Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is strong.

The man who acts never has any conscience; no one has any conscience but the man who thinks

To be active is the primary vocation of man.

For usually people resist as long as they can to dismiss the fool they harbor in their bosom, they resist to confess a major mistake or to admit a truth that makes them despair.