“Culture is the tacit agreement to let the means of subsistence disappear behind the purpose of existence. Civilization is the subordination of the latter to the former
“Progress, under whose feet the grass mourns and the forest turns into paper from which newspaper plants grow, has subordinated the purpose of life to the means of subsistence and turned us into the nuts and bolts for our tools
“It is the style of idealism to console itself for the loss of something old with the ability to gape at something new
“Providence conceals itself in the details of human affairs, but becomes unveiled in the generalities of history
“One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them
“An hour-glass is a reminder not only of time's quick flight, but also of the dust to which we must at last return
“I cannot stop thinking that I died before I was born and that at my death I will return to the same state
“Reason now gazes above the realm of the dark but warm feelings as the alpine peaks do above the clouds. They behold the sun more clearly and distinctly, but they are cold and unfruitful
“Our deeds disguise us. People need endless time to try on their deeds, until each knows the proper deeds for him to do. But every day, every hour, rushes by. There is no time