Poverty and slavery are thus only two forms ofthe same thing, the essence of which is that a man’s energies are expended for the most part not on his own behalf but on that of others.
A man’s face as a rule says more, and more interesting things, than his mouth, for it is a compendium of everything his mouth will ever say, in that it is the monogram of all this man’s thoughts and aspirations.
Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.
What a man is: that is to say, personality, in the widest sense of the word; under which are included health, strength, beauty, temperament, moral character, intelligence, and education.
It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.
The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite of the organism, a pensioner, as it were, who dwells with the body.
Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.
No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.
It often happens that we blurt out things that may in some kind of way be harmful to us, but we are silent about things that may make us look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on cause.
Many books serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up...
Life to the great majority is only a constant struggle for mere existence, with the certainty of losing it at last.
Reasonable and vicious are quite consistent with each other, in fact, only through their union are great and far-reaching crimes possible.
To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake.
We deceive and flatter no one by such delicate artificies as we do our own selves.
The problem with Germans is that they look in the clouds for what lies at their feet.
Every original idea is first ridiculed, then vigorously attacked, and finally taken for granted.
That arithmetic is the basest of all mental activities is proved by the fact that it is the only one that can be accomplished by a machine.
A man must have grown old and lived long in order to see how short life is.
National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity and baseness of mankind take in every country. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right.
JedeTrennung gibt einenVorgeschmack desTodesund jedes Wiedersehen einenVorgeschmack der Auferstehung. Every parting is a foretaste of death, and every reunion a foretaste of resurrection.