“Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.”

“Why," said the saint, "did I go into the forest and the desert? Was it not because I loved mankind far too well? Now I love God! Mankind I do not love; mankind is a thing too imperfect for me. Love of mankind would be fatal to me.”

“But if you have an enemy, do not requite him evil with good, for that would put him to shame. Rather prove that he did you some good. And rather be angry than put to shame. And if you are cursed, I do not like that you want to bless. Rather join a little in the cursing.”

“The misunderstanding of passion and reason, as if the latter were an independent entity and not rather a system of relations between various passions and desires; and as if every passion did not possess its quantum of reason”

“What then in the last resort are the truths of mankind?--They are the irrefutable errors of mankind.”

“Our faith in others betrays that we would rather have faith in ourselves.”

“At bottom every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time.”