Among the wealthy, generosity is often merely a kind of shyness.
When a man has just been greatly honored and has eaten a little he is the most generous.
Respectability offends my taste.
You say that I should be your teacher! See to it that I am your pinion and not your brake.
What is the strongest cure? – Victory.
Whoever deliberately attempts to insure confidentiality with another person is usually in doubt as to whether he inspires that person’s confidence in him. One who is sure that he inspires confidence attaches little importance to confidentiality.
The gilded sheath of pity sometimes covers the dagger of envy.
Where do your greatest dangers lie? – In pity.
Whom do you call bad? – Those who always want to induce shame.
Man is more sensitive to the contempt that others feel towards him than to the contempt that he feels towards himself.
The most unambiguous sign that a person holds men in low esteem is this, that he either acknowledges them merely as means to his ends or does not acknowledge them at all.
In affability there is no hatred of men, but for that very reason there is all too much contempt for men.
Strong currents drag many stones and bushes along with them, strong intellects many dense and muddled minds.
Annoyance is a physical malady that is in no way cured just because the annoying situation that causes it is eliminated.
He who bestows something great receives no gratitude; for in accepting it the recipient has already been weighed down too much.
We count the courtesies accorded us by unpopular people as offenses.
The weak and misbegotten shall perish: first principle of our brotherly love. And they shall be given every assistance.
Towards gnats and fleas we should show no pity. We would do right to hang petty thieves, petty calumniators, and slanderers.
I am a prelude to better players, O my brothers! An example! Follow my example!
There is an innocence in lying which is the sign of good faith in a cause.