“If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?”

“Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.”

“Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!”

“Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life.”

“Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.”

“Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.”

“With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.”

“To live alone is the fate of all great souls.”

“It is only a man's own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else's meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.”

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

“The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.”