“Science is not a taxi-cab that we can get in and out of whenever we like.”

“Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.”

“We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”

“We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.”

“Philosophy ... is a science, and as such has no articles of faith; accordingly, in it nothing can be assumed as existing except what is either positively given empirically, or demonstrated through indubitable conclusions.”

“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.”

“In our early youth we sit before the life that lies ahead of us like children sitting before the curtain in a theatre, in happy and tense anticipation of whatever is going to appear. Luckily we do not know what really will appear.”