Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.
The life of every individual is really always a tragedy, but gone through in detail, it has the character of a comedy.
As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.
Pleasure is never as pleasant as we expected it to be and pain is always more painful. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don’t believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.
Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies.
The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.
What people commonly call fate is mostly their own stupidity.
The world is not a factory and animals are not products for our use.
If we suspect that a man is lying, we should pretend to believe him; for then he becomes bold and assured, lies more vigorously, and is unmasked.
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.