How true it is that, sooner or later, the' most rebellious must bow beneath the yoke of misfortune!

One must choose in life between boredom and suffering.

The only equitable manner in my opinion, of judging the character of a man is to examine if there are personal calculations in his conduct; if there are not, we may blame his manner of judging, but we are not the less bound to esteem him.

[Ridicule] laughs at all those who see the earnestness of life and who still believe in true feelings and in serious thought ... It soils the hope of youth. Only shameless vice is above its reach.

O memory, thou bitter sweet,--both a joy and a scourge!

Goethe has made a remark upon the perfectability of the human mind, which is full of sagacity: It is always advancing, but in a spiral line.

... in the history of the human mind there has never been a useful thought or a profound truth that has not found its century and admirers.