“If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.”

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.

Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.

Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with its probability.

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.

No matter what someone has endured, it doesn’t give them a license to be harmful to you.

That said, your values will not always be the object of public admiration. In fact, the more you live by your beliefs, the more you will endure the censure of the world.

To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted my no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; to forgo even ambition when the end is gained – who can say this is not greatness?

Solitude, isolation, are painful things, and beyond human endurance.

Do not mock a pain you have not endured.

The sea – this truth must be confessed – has no generosity. No display of manly qualities – courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness – has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power.

How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.