We should know mankind better if we were not so anxious to resemble one another.

Over all the mountain tops is peace. In all treetops you perceive scarcely a breath. The little birds in the forest are silent. Wait then; soon, you too, will have peace.

Talent is nurtured in solitude; character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.

No one can take from us the joy of the first becoming aware of something, the so-called discovery. But if we also demand the honor, it can be utterly spoiled for us, for we are usually not the first. What does discovery mean, and who can say that he has discovered this or that? After all it's pure idiocy to brag about priority; for it's simply unconscious conceit, not to admit frankly that one is a plagiarist.

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

The flowers of life are but illusions. How many fade away and leave no trace.

Tolerance should really only be a passing attitude: it should lead to appreciation. To tolerate is to offend.