“Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.”

Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are the tormented souls.

Treat a work of art like a prince; let it speak to you first.

We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.

We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

One should use common words to say uncommon things.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

The shortness of life, so often lamented, may be the best thing about it.

Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become, and the same is true of fame.

Music is the melody whose text is the world.

A sense of humor is the only divine quality of man.

The safest way of not being very miserable is not to expect to be very happy.

We seldom speak of what we have but often of what we lack.

Animals hear about death for the first time when they die.

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.