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

The man of understanding finds everything laughable.

Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks.

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

He who does not see the whole world in his friends, does not deserve that the world should hear of him.

All ages have said and repeated that one should strive to know one's self. This is a strange demand which no one up to now has measured up to and, strictly considered, no one should. With all their study and effort, people are directed to what is outside, to the world about them, and they are kept busy coming to know this and to master it to the extent that their purposes require. . . . How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to. And what is your duty? Whatever the day calls for.

True religion teaches us to reverence what is under us, to recognize humility and poverty, and, despite mockery and disgrace, wretchedness, suffering, and death, as things divine.