It is said, that no one is a hero to their butler. The reason is, that it requires a hero to recognize a hero. The butler, however, will probably know well how to estimate his equals.
Every day, look at a beautiful picture, read a beautiful poem, listen to some beautiful music, and if possible, say something reasonable.
For the butterfly, mating and propagation involve the sacrifice of life, for the human being, the sacrifice of beauty.
All beginnings are delightful; the threshold is the place to pause.
The highest happiness, the purest joys of life, wear out at last.
The best pleasures of this world are not quite true.
Death is Nature’s expert advice to get plenty of Life.
Hypotheses are lullabies for teachers to sing their students to sleep.
Master and Doctor are my titles; for ten years now, without repose, I held my erudite recitals and led my pupils by the nose.
We talk too much. We should talk less and draw more.
We are not all equal, nor can we be so.
Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.
Only the soul that loves is happy.
Commonplaceness, the surrender to the average, that good which is not bad but still the enemy of the best – That is our besetting danger.
No skill or art is needed to grow old; the trick is to endure it.
All is born of water; all is sustained by water.
Alas, I have studied philosophy, the law as well as medicine, and to my sorrow, theology; studied them well with ardent zeal, yet here I am, a wretched fool, no wiser than I was before.
Never let a day pass without looking at some perfect work of art, hearing some great piece of music and reading, in part, some great book.
Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.
Mystery is truth’s dancing partner.