It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.

Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.

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

A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.

It must be admitted that there are some parts of the soul which we must entirely paralyse before we can live happily in this world.

People are governed by the head; a kind heart is of little value in chess.

Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality.