“It does not prove a thing to be right because the majority say it is so.”

Every true genius is bound to be naive.

An honest man you may form of windle-straws, but to make a rogue you must have grist.

Satisfied if they themselves can escape from the hard labour of thought, they willingly abandon to others the guardianship of their thoughts.

Freedom can occur only through education.

Aesthetic matters are fundamental for the harmonious development of both society and the individual.

It is not the mere station of life that stamps the value on us, but the manner in which we act our part.

Fate hath no voice but the heart’s impulse.

Far must thy researches go Wouldst thou learn the world to know; Thou must tempt the dark abyss Wouldst thou prove what Being is; Naught but firmness gains the prize, Naught but fullness makes us wise, Buried deep truth e’er lies.

On the mountains there is freedom! The world is perfect everywhere, Save where man comes with his torment.

He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.

Virtue is no empty echo.

Wine invents nothing; it only tattles.

The jest loses its point when he who makes it is the first to laugh.

Forgiveness is the finding again of a lost possession.

If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.

In a narrow circle the mind contracts. Man grows with his expanded needs.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

For it is evident that those who regard the whole earth as their future territory will stress the organ of domestic violence and will rule conquered territory with police methods and personnel rather than with the army.

Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.

The way of science is paved with discarded theories that were once declared self-evident.

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence that could support this.

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.

A wise man apportions his beliefs to the evidence.

By far the best proof is experience.