One man’s word is no man’s word; we should quietly hear both sides.
Life is not anything, but an opportunity for something.
I have found a paper of mine among some others in which I call architecture ‘petrified music.’ Really there is something in this; the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music.
To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.
Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.
Help me to discover Thy truth, O Lord, and preserve me from those who have already found it.
I had toward the poetic art a peculiar relation which was only practical after I had cherished in my mind for a long time a subject which possessed me, a model which inspired me, a predecessor who attracted me, until at length, after I had molded it.
We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies.
It is a mistake for a taciturn, serious-minded woman to marry a jovial man, but not for a serious-minded man to marry a lighthearted woman.
There is nothing in the world more pitiable than an irresolute man, oscillating between two feelings, who would willingly unite the two and who does not perceive that nothing can unite them.
My poor head is in such a whirl, my mind is all in bits.
Everything great and intelligent is in the minority.
To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities.
Where there are no women there are no good manners.
On every mountain height is rest.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, for he knows how to introduce the former at fit place in conversation.
The realization of the self is only possible if one is productive, if one can give birth to one’s own potentialities.
I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners.
If you inquire what people are like here, I must answer, “The same as everywhere.”