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

Life is a constant process of dying.

I have not yet spoken my last word about women. I believe that if a woman succeeds in withdrawing from the mass, or rather raising herself from above the mass, she grows ceaselessly and more than a man.

If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner, if I let it slip from my tongue, I am Its prisoner.

The world is my idea.

Faith is like love: it does not let itself be forced.

Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth.

A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.

Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.

Happiness consists of the frequent repetition of pleasure.

Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.

He who writes carelessly confesses thereby at the very outset that he does not attach much importance to his own thoughts.

Ordinary people merely think how they shall spend their time; a man of talent tries to use it.

Truth is most beautiful undraped.

The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.

After your death, you will be what you were before your birth.

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

Education is teaching our children to desire the right things.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.

Nothing is impossible to the person who backs desire with enduring faith.

Everyone wishes to be loved, but in the event, nearly no one can bear it. Everyone desires love but also finds it impossible to believe that he deserves it.

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.

Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.