Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the former and have seen no reason to change.

We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.

The happiest is the person who suffers the least pain; the most miserable who enjoys the least pleasure.

To forgive is not just to be altruistic.

This terrifying world is not devoid of charms, of the mornings that make waking up worthwhile.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them

I am convinced we do not only love ourselves in others but hate ourselves in others too.

Do not wait for the last judgment. It comes every day.

Exceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.

The worldly comforts are not for me. I am like a traveller, who takes rest under a tree in the shade and then goes on his way.

Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life.

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.

All that happens means something; nothing you do is ever insignificant.

The past is the best prophet of the future.

Close by the Rights of Man, at the least set beside them, are the Rights of the Spirit.

How can I go forward when I don't know which way I'm facing?

True spirituality has its basis in moral life, which in turn is based on contem-plation.

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.