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.

Strike the dog dead, it's but a critic!

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.

My counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.

The important thing is not to know more than all men, but to know more at each moment than any particular man.

What one doesn't understand one doesn't possess.

What you can do, or think you can, begin it.