Quote collection
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"To call out for the hand of the enemy is a rather extreme measure, yet a better one, I think, than to remain in continual fever over an accident that has no remedy. But since all the precautions that a man can take are full of uneasiness and uncertainty, it is better to prepare with fine assurance for the worst that can happen, and derive some consolation from the fact that we are not sure that it will happen."
"Whatever can be done another day can be done today."
"The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear."
"We are nearer neighbours to ourselves than whiteness to snow, or weight to stones."
"Intelligence is required to be able to know that a man knows not."
"Meditation is a powerful and full study as can effectually taste and employ themselves."
"If your doctor does not think it good for you to sleep, to drink wine, or to eat of a particular dish, do not worry; I will find you another who will not agree with him."
"I say that male and female are cast in the same mold; except for education and habits, the difference is not great."
"If my mind could gain a firm footing, I would not make essays, I would make decisions; but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial."
"Silence and modesty are very valuable qualities in conversation."
"A man may be humble through vainglory."
"No pleasure is fully delightful without communications, and no delight absolute except imparted."
"Whatever is enforced by command is more imputed to him who exacts than to him who performs."
"Some impose upon the world that they believe that which they do not; others, more in number, make themselves believe that they believe, not being able to penetrate into what it is to believe."
"Certainly, if he still has himself, a man of understanding has lost nothing."
"And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one."
"We seek and offer ourselves to be gulled."
"What a wonderful thing it is that drop of seed, from which we are produced, bears in itself the impressions, not only of the bodily shape, but of the thoughts and inclinations of our fathers!"
"To understand via the heart is not to understand."
"A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude."