Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.

We find many things to which the prohibition of them constitutes the only temptation.

We go on a journey to be free of all impediments; to leave ourselves behind much more than to get rid of others

People of genius do not excel in any profession because they work in it, they work in it because they excel.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.

Every man, in judging of himself, is his own contemporary. He may feel the gale of popularity, but he cannot tell how long it will last. His opinion of himself wants distance, wants time, wants numbers, to set it off and confirm it.

Diffidence and awkwardness are antidotes to love.