Life is to be lived, not controlled.
Never read a book that is not a year old.
Let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its friend, and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years.
There are no days in life that are so memorable as those that vibrate to some stroke of the imagination.
Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.
Love what is simple and beautiful. These are the essentials.
There is more in every person’s soul than we think.
Sincerity is the highest complement you can pay.
We, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner; must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.
The sinew and heart of man seem to be drawn out, and we are become timorous desponding whimperers. We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other.
But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things.
I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.
Heaven walks among us ordinarily muffled in such triple or tenfold disguises that the wisest are deceived and no one suspects the days to be gods.
He in whom the love of repose predominates will accept the first creed, the first philosophy, the first political party he meets – most likely his father’s. He gets rest, commodity, and reputation; but he shuts the door of truth.
Solitude is impractical and yet society is fatal.
I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.
Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.
People destined to meet will do so, apparently by chance, at precisely the right moment.
There is no privacy that cannot be penetrated. No secret can be kept in the civilized world. Society is a masked ball where everyone hides his real character, then reveals it by hiding.
Let us advance on Chaos and the Dark.