In my youth I studied for ostentation; later, a little to gain wisdom; now, for recreation; never for gain.

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.

To know how to live is my trade and my art.

A foreign war is a lot milder than a civil war.

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as it is, has its circumscriptions and limits.

No spiritual mind remains within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its own strength.