No one writes anything worth writing, unless he writes entirely for the sake of his subject..

To become indignant at [people's] conduct is as foolish as to be angry with a stone because it rolls into your path. And with many people the wisest ….

Genius is to other gifts what the carbuncle is to the precious stones. It sends forth its own light, whereas other stones only reflect borrowed light..

Pride works _from within_; it is the direct appreciation of oneself. Vanity is the desire to arrive at this appreciation indirectly, from without..

Genius is an intellect that has become unfaithful to its destiny..

If there is anything in the world that can really be called a man's property, it is surely that which is the result of his mental activity..

The fruits of Christianity were religious wars, butcheries, crusades, inquisitions, extermination of the natives of America, and the introduction of ….

Two Chinamen visiting Europe went to the theatre for the first time. One of them occupied himself with trying to understand the theatrical machinery,….

If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much s….

I know of no more beautiful prayer than that which the Hindus of old used in closing: May all that have life be delivered from suffering..

It is only the man whose intellect is clouded by his sexual impulse that could give the name of the fair sex to that undersized, narrow-shouldered, b….

For what is modesty but hypocritical humility, by means of which, in a world swelling with vile envy, a man seeks to beg pardon for his excellences a….

One can forget everything, everything, only not oneself, one's own being..

There is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life..

If life — the craving for which is the very essence of our being — were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as bo….

That a god like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and woe, out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should then have ….

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakne….

A happy life is impos­si­ble; the best that a man can attain is a heroic life..

As my own father was sick, and miserably tied to his invalid's chair, he would have been abandoned had not an old servant performed for him a so-call….

Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to sh….

A hedge between keeps friendship green..