Man may aspire to virtue, but he cannot reasonably aspire to truth.

It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.

Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.

Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death.

An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.

Philosophy, like medicine, has plenty of drugs, few good remedies, and hardly any specific cures.

Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.