Our shortcomings are the eyes with which we see the ideal |
Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. |
Our vanity is most difficult to wound just when our pride has been wounded. |
Out of damp and gloomy days, out of solitude, out of loveless words directed at us, conclusions grow up in us like fungus: one morning they are there, we know not how, and they gaze upon us, morose and gray. Woe to the thinker who is not the gardener but only the soil of the plants that grow in him. |
Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger |
Out of passions grow opinions; mental sloth lets these rigidify into convictions |
Pathetic attitudes are not in keeping with greatness |
People who comprehend a thing to its very depths rarely stay faithful to it forever. For they have brought its depths into the light of day: and in the depths there is always much that is unpleasant to see. |
People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights. |
Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter. |
Perhaps nobody yet has been truthful enough about what "truthfulness" is. |
Physician, help yourself: thus help your patient too. Let this be his best help: that he may behold with his eyes the man who heals himself. |
Plato was a bore. |
Poets treat their experiences shamelessly; they exploit them |
Possessions are usually diminished by possession. |