The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.
The relation of superior to inferior excludes good manners.
I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: 'The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair.' In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.
People tend to believe the bad rather than the good.
The facts of life do not penetrate to the sphere in which our beliefs are cherished.
Of men who reach my tale of years Who least has cause to make his moan? He who has learnt to banish fears, Who lives and dies unknown.
Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.
I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
It is not without good reason said, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.
Laziness: the habit of resting before fatigue sets in.
Light had its allotted time; but timeless and infinite is the reign of the night − the duration of sleep eternal.
Everything evil is rooted in some good and everything false in some truth.
A systematic revolution of basic concepts begins with Einsteinian science. In the very detail of its concepts a relativism of the rational and the empirical is established. Science then undergoes what Nietzsche called 'an upheaval of concepts,' as if the earth, the universe, things, possessed a different structure from the fact that their explanation rests upon new foundations. All rational organization is 'shaken' when the fundamental concepts undergo dialectical transformation.
Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o'th'milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way.
Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.
My difficulty is only an — enormous — difficulty of expression.
The sad truth of the matter is that most evil is done by people who never made up their minds to be or do either evil or good.
The main scourge of humanity is not ignorance, because the ignorant often have excuses, but the refusal to know.
One can say that to some extent fascism has added a new variation to the old art of lying — the most devilish variation — that of lying the truth.
Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.
Not doubt, certainty is what drives one insane.
Every animal loves itself.
I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.
Irony hurts, humour treats. Irony can kill; humour helps to live. Irony wants to establish domination; humour liberates. Irony is cruel, humor is forgiving. Irony is humiliating; humor is humble.
Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.
To save all we must dare all.
The beautiful is the symbol of the morally good.
Nothing so much prevents us from being natural as the desire to appear so.
Love eagerly believes everything it wants to.
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