Wisdom

There is always a suggestion of some sort, either the end of a train of thought or a new sensation; and there is an action ensuing, either the movement of a muscle or set of muscles, or the fixing of attention upon something.

This is why we ought not to do evil that good may come; for at any rate this great evil has come, that we have done evil and are made wicked thereby.

In like manner, if I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts.

But I cannot help doing this great wrong toward Man, that I make myself credulous.

Man is a part of Nature, not something contrasted with Nature.

It is we who create value, and our desires which confer value.

It is for us to determine the good life, not for Nature - not even for Nature personified as God.

Knowledge and love are both indefinitely extensible; therefore, however good a life may be, a better life can be imagined.

Neither love without knowledge, nor knowledge without love can produce a good life.

Although both love and knowledge are necessary, love is in a sense more fundamental.

Love is a word which covers a variety of feelings.

That is why love is better than hate, because it brings harmony instead of conflict into the desires of the persons concerned.

The world is a unity, and the man who pretends to live independently is a conscious or unconscious parasite.

Give me only the bronze ring which can instantly grant me anything I wish for.

Several mice offered themselves for this mission and set out to find the young captain.

What is to be done? said the Queen.

Atisha! atisha! sneezed the old man, but he did not wake, and the shock made the bronze ring jump out of his mouth.

Which of us deserves the most credit? they cried all at once.

No, indeed, cried the mouse with the cropped ears; the credit is mine.

No, it is mine, cried the lame one, for I ran off with the ring.