The methods that help a man acquire a fortune are the very ones that keep him from enjoying it.

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future.

It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.

Of every ten persons who talk about you, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way.

The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or Marc Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marc Aurelius.

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.

The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them out.

The war had made some into libertines and some into serious, sober men.

What is meant by calling the writings of Moses and the Prophets

I come from nothing: but from where come the undying thoughts I bear?

Ignore fact and reason, live entirely in the world of your own fantastic and myth-producing passions; do this whole-heartedly and with conviction, and you will become one of the prophets of your age.

It's that element of surprise. When you lose control, you discover new things.

In sum, the purpose is to contest the popular view, because popular opinions are so frequently found to be untimely, misled (by propaganda), or plainly wrong.

All I'm trying to do is wipe out heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

For death betimes is comfort, not dismay, and who can rightly die needs no delay.

Whether it's simply some fierce animal joining of mates or a sublime merging of souls, she is mine, and I am hers.

She who dwells with me whom I have loved with such communion, that no place on earth can ever be solitude to me.