“Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.”

“Hm … yes, all is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom”

“(…)man holds the remedy in his own hands, and lets everything go its own way, simply through cowardice- that is an axiom.”

“I want to attempt a thing like that and am frightened by these trifles," he thought, with an odd smile. "Hm … yes, all is in a man's hands and he lets it all slip from cowardice, that's an axiom. It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of”

“His malice was aimed at himself; with shame and contempt he recollected his "cowardice.”

“Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in bliss so that nothing but bubbles would dance on the surface of his bliss, as on a sea...and even then every man, out of sheer ingratitude, sheer libel, would play you some loathsome trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive rationality his fatal fantastic element...simply in order to prove to himself that men still are men and not piano keys.”

“God has such gladness every time he sees from heaven that a sinner is praying to Him with all his heart, as a mother has when she sees the first smile on her baby's face.”