If a person is stupid, we excuse him by saying that he cannot help it; but if we attempted to excuse in precisely the same way the person who is bad, we should be laughed at.
Life is a business that does not cover the costs.
Reason is feminine in nature; it can only give after it has received.
Every time a man is begotten and born, the clock of human life is wound up anew to repeat once more its same old tune that has already been played innumerable times, movement by movement and measure by measure, with insignificant variations.
This actual world of what is knowable, in which we are and which is in us, remains both the material and the limit of our consideration.
The bad thing about all religions is that, instead of being able to confess their allegorical nature, they have to conceal it.
Will without intellect is the most vulgar and common thing in the world, possessed by every blockhead, who, in the gratification of his passions, shows the stuff of which he is made.
In truth the most striking figure for the relation of the two is that of the strong blind man carrying the sighted lame man on his shoulders.
Whoever wants his judgment to be believed, should express it coolly and dispassionately; for all vehemence springs from the will. And so the judgment might be attributed to the will and not to knowledge, which by its nature is cold.
A man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine.
Each day is a little life.
The highest, most varied and lasting pleasures are those of the mind.
Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.
Money alone is absolutely good, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of one need in particular; it is an abstract satisfaction of all.
Solitude will be welcomed or endured or avoided, according as a man’s personal value is large or small.
Materialism is the philosophy of the subject who forgets to take account of himself.
A writer should never be brief at the expense of being clear.
For it is a matter of daily observation that people take the greatest pleasure in that which satisfies their vanity; and vanity cannot be satisfied without comparison with others.
The young should early be trained to bear being left alone; for it is a source of happiness and peace of mind.
Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience.