Investigate what is, and not what pleases.
I love those who yearn for the impossible.
Human life runs its course in the metamorphosis between receiving and giving.
One alone does not help, but rather he who unites with many at the right moment.
Few people have the imagination for reality.
The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.
He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.
It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage.
Words are good, but there is something better. The best is not to be explained by words. The spirit in which we act is the chief matter. Action can only be understood and represented by the spirit.
Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
I wish the stage were as narrow as the wire of a tighrope dancer so that no incompetent would dare step upon it.
The world is so great and rich, and life so full of variety, that you can never lack occasions for poems.
All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.
Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.
The best slave is the one who thinks he is free.
If you’ve never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like.
Every man has enough power left to carry out that of which he is convinced.
Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.
Those who make use of devotion as a means and end generally are hypocrites.