A wise man loses nothing, if he but save himself.

The man who thinks he knows does not yet know what knowing is

Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.

Speech belongs half to the speaker, half to the listener. The latter must prepare to receive it according to the motion it takes.

Natural inclinations are assisted and reinforced by education, but they are hardly ever altered or overcome.

The good, supreme, divine poetry is above the rules and reason. Whoever discerns its beauty with a firm, sedate gaze does not see it, any more than he sees the splendor of a lightning flash. It does not persuade our judgement, it ravishes and overwhelms it.

Were I to live my life over again, I should live it just as I have done. I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.