“One knows a little too much about everybody. And we can even see through some men, and yet we can by no means pass through them.”

“Where one can no longer love, there one should pass by.”

“Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some distant coast attracts our avarice: possessions are generally diminished by possession.”

“A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.”

“We would not let ourselves be burned to death for our opinions: we are not sure enough of them for that.”

“ridendo dicere severum. (tr. Through what is laughable say what is somber.)”

“Consider the cattle, grazing as they pass you by. They do not know what is meant by yesterday or today, they leap about, eat, rest, digest, leap about again, and so from morn till night and from day to day, fettered to the moment and its pleasure or displeasure, and thus neither melancholy nor bored. [...] A human being may well ask an animal: 'Why do you not speak to me of your happiness but only stand and gaze at me?' The animal would like to answer, and say, 'The reason is I always forget what I was going to say' - but then he forgot this answer too, and stayed silent.”