Every tradition grows ever more venerable — the more remote its origin, the more confused that origin is. The reverence due to it increases from generation to generation. The tradition finally becomes holy and inspires awe.

He who humbleth himself wants to be exalted.

Most men are too concerned with themselves to be malicious.

One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear.

One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes.

No power can maintain itself if only hypocrites represent it.

One common false conclusion is that because someone is truthful and upright towards us he is spreading the truth. Thus the child believes his parents' judgements, the Christian believes the claims of the church's founders. Likewise, people do not want to admit that all those things which men defended with the sacrifice of their lives and happiness in earlier centuries were nothing but errors.

Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today.

Life is, after all, not a product of morality.

Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself.