“But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things..”

“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

“All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.”

“Things do not change; we change.”

“Do not engage to find things as you think they are.”

“Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends.”