“To be content with life, or to live merrily, rather, all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow
“I cannot stop thinking that I died before I was born and that at my death I will return to the same state
“First there is a time when we believe everything, then for a little while we believe with discrimination, then we believe nothing whatever, and then we believe everything again - and, moreover, give reasons why we believe
“Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and times - and this is the worst of all - before we have new ones
“The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
“He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss
“To prejudge other men's notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eye
“Our misery is that we thirst so little for these sublime things, and so much for the mocking trifles of time and space
“When you see a man with a great deal of religion displayed in his shop window, you may depend upon it, he keeps a very small stock of it within