I am part of the part that once was everything, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light… Mephistopheles, from Faust.

Nature! We live in her midst and know her not. She is incessantly speaking to us, but betrays not her secret. We constantly act upon her, and yet have no power over her. Variant: NATURE! We are surrounded and embraced by her: powerless to separate ourselves from her, and powerless to penetrate beyond her.

Who strives always to the utmost, him can we save.

Microscopes and telescopes really confuse our minds.

Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.

Superstition is rooted in a much deeper and more sensitive layer of the psyche than skepticism.

Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.