Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriat….

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other..

There is one respect in which beasts show real wisdom... their quiet, placid enjoyment of the present moment..

To repeat abstractly, universally, and distinctly in concepts the whole inner nature of the world , and thus to deposit it as a reflected image in pe….

Want and boredom are indeed the twin poles of human life..

There are 80,000 prostitutes in London alone and what are they, if not bloody sacrifices on the altar of monogamy?.

No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose..

The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the….

In order to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much ….

For an act to be moral the intention must be based on compassion, not duty. We do something because we want to do it, because we feel we have to do i….

Solitude will be welcomed or endured or avoided, according as a man's personal value is large or small..

Always to see the general in the particular is the very foundation of genius..

If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any diffi….

Unrest is the mark of existence..

On the path of actions, great heart is the chief recommendation; on that works, a great head..

I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind..

We see in tragedy the noblest men, after a long conflict and suffering, finally renounce forever all the pleasure of life and the aims till then purs….

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first..

Every hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of the weak and the many; and if in the end he loses all patience he crushes both th….

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom..

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal..