There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.
Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.
It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.
They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice... that suicide is wrong when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.
Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life.
Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.
There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.
The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.
Money is human happiness in the abstract he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.
Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.
Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.
As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.
The fundament upon which all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable.
The fundament upon which all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable.
Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.
Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.
They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice... that suicide is wrong when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.
The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.
Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another but women are by nature enemies.
Money is human happiness in the abstract he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.
Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!
Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.