“Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly.”

One may be humble out of pride.

My trade and art is to live.

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

There is no pleasure to me without communication: there is not so much as a sprightly thought comes into my mind that it does not grieve me to have produced alone, and that I have no one to tell it to.

If you don’t know how to die, don’t worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately.

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.

A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.

The soul which has no fixed purpose in life is lost; to be everywhere, is to be nowhere.

Ambition is not a vice of little people.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity.

It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

We can be knowledgable with other men’s knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.

And once you’re unafraid with death, I think your capacity for violence is immediately increased. Once you’re unafraid of death, you are a very, very dangerous adversary.

Where destruction is the motive, unity is dangerous.

Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.

One thing we can do is make the choice to view the world in a healthy way. We can choose to see the world as safe with only moments of danger rather than seeing the world as dangerous with only moments of safety.

The search for Nirvana, like the search for Utopia or the end of history or the classless society, is ultimately a futile and dangerous one. It involves, if it does not necessitate, the sleep of reason. There is no escape from anxiety and struggle.

Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.

Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within. The world and the devil combined, cannot do us as much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray.

There are no forces on this planet more dangerous to all of us than the fanaticisms of fundamentalism.