Old age, especially an honoured old age, has so great authority, that this is of more value than all the pleasures of youth.
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
The natural world is the greatest source of excitement. The greatest source of visual beauty. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.
The historian looks backward. In the end he also believes backward.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
What do you want meaning for? Life is desire, not meaning.
You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.
The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.
Do not erase the designs the child makes in the soft wax of his inner life.
Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.
Anybody can dig a hole and plant a tree. But make sure it survives. You have to nurture it, you have to water it, you have to keep at it until it becomes rooted so it can take care or itself. There are so many enemies of trees.
The future starts today, not tomorrow.
The more I see, the less I know for sure.
Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.
The young people think the old people are fools - but the old people know the young people are fools.
The knowledge of oneself will preserve that person from vanity.
Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.
A tragedy means always a man's struggle with that which is stronger than man.
Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.
