What disturbs and depresses young people is the hunt for happiness on the firm assumption that it must be met with in life. From this arises constantly deluded hope and so also dissatisfaction. Deceptive images of a vague happiness hover before us in our dreams, and we search in vain for their original. Much would have been gained if, through timely advice and instruction, young people could have had eradicated from their minds the erroneous notion that the world has a great deal to offer them.
The life of every individual, viewed as a whole and in general, and when only its most significant features are emphasized, is really a tragedy; but gone through in detail it has the character of a comedy.
Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude
It often happens that we blurt out things that may in some kind of way be harmful to us, but we are silent about things that may make us look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on cause.
The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.
If we weren't all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting we couldn't endure it.
The amount of noise which anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity.
The memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten.
Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought.
Compassion is the basis of all morality.