An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.

Is it not superfluous to write more than one novel if the writer has not become, say, a new man? Obviously, all the novels of an author not infrequently belong together and are to a certain degree only one novel.

The subject of history is the gradual realization of all that is practically necessary.

An artist is he who has his center within himself. He who lacks this must choose a particular leader and mediator outside of himself, not forever, however, but only at first. For man cannot exist without a living center, and if he does not have it within himself, he may seek it only in a human being. Only a human being and his center can stimulate and awaken that of another.

Nothing is more piquant than when a man of genius possesses mannerisms; not so when they possess him -- this leads to spiritual petrification.

About no subject is there less philosophizing than about philosophy.

The obsession with moderation is the spirit of castrated narrow-mindedness.