The instructed man is ashamed to pronounce in an Orphic manner what everybody knows, and because he is silent people think he is making fun of them.

The man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man.

Earnest people are often people who habitually look on the serious side of things that have no serious side.

People of small calibre are always carping. How affected so-and-so is! Don't you think he is silly? He was certainly quite mistaken about this or that. They are bent on showing their own superiority, their knowledge or their prowess or good breeding.

How delightful is the company of generous people, who overlook trifles and keep their minds instinctively fixed on whatever is good and positive in the world around them.

As against having beautiful workshops, studies, etc., one writes best in a cellar on a rainy day.

Those of our writers who have possessed a vivid personal talent have been paralyzed by a want of social background.