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

Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts or leave it.

Genius lives only one story above the madness.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.

Marrying means to halve one’s rights and double one’s duties.

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

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.