Some of our weaknesses are born in us, others are the result of education; it is a question which of the two gives us most trouble.

And I have again observed, my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence.

The confidant of my vices is my master, though he were my valet.

You acquire a language most readily in the country where it is spoken; you study mineralogy best among miners; and so with everything else.

Let us seek to fathom those things that are fathomable and reserve those things which are unfathomable for reverence in quietude.

Each one of us must carry within the proof of immortality, it cannot be given from outside of us. To be sure, everything in natureis change but behind the change there is something eternal.

Solitude is fine when you are at peace with yourself and have something definite to do.