Whatever torch we kindle, and whatever space it may illuminate, our horizon will always remain encircled by the depth of night.
Religions are like fireflies. They require darkness in order to shine.
When a new truth enters the world, the first stage of reaction to it is ridicule, the second stage is violent opposition, and in the third stage, that truth comes to be regarded as self-evident.
Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.
A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
Mankind cannot get on without a certain amount of absurdity.
Still, instead of trusting what their own minds tell them, men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to supernatural sources of knowledge.
A man who has not enough originality to think out a new title for his book will be much less capable of giving it new contents.
Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.
The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.
Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard. It is in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others and denies nothing to itself.
We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.
Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.
A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man.
After your death you will be what you were before your birth.
Life without pain has no meaning.
Truth is no harlot who throws her arms round the neck of him who does not desire her; on the contrary, she is so coy a beauty that even the man who sacrifices everything to her can still not be certain of her favors.
Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see.
Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.
Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.