Politeness is organized indifference.

The great virtues of the German people have created more evils than idleness ever did vices

Every social system is more or less against nature, and at every moment nature is at work to reclaim her rights.

A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.

To be sincere means to be the same person when one is with oneself; that is to say, alone - but that is all it means.

To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.

You have certainly observed the curious fact that a given word which is perfectly clear when you hear it or use it in everyday language, and which does not give rise to any difficulty when it is engaged in the rapid movement of an ordinary sentence becomes magically embarrassing, introduces a strange resistance, frustrates any effort at definition as soon as you take it out of circulation to examine it separately and look for its meaning after taking away its instantaneous function.