I saw that I'd get nowhere on the straight path, and that to go crookedly was straighter.

Gambling is the great leveller. All men are equal- at cards.

The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.

The more destruction there is everywhere, the more it shows the activity of town authorities.

Nothing could be more pleasant than to live in solitude, enjoy the spectacle of nature, and occasionally read some book.

But there is nothing enduring in the world, and therefore even joy in the second minute is already not as acute as in the first; in the third minute it becomes still weaker and finally merges unnoticeably with the usual condition of the soul, as a circle on the water, caused by the fall of a pebble, finally merges with the smooth surface.

Countless as the sands of sea are human passions, and not all of them are alike, and all of them, base and noble alike, are at first obedient to man and only later on become his terrible masters.