Today the world changes so quickly 

that in growing up 

we take leave 

not just of youth 

but of the world we were young in.

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

The pain passes, 

but the beauty remains.

I didn't think; 

I experimented.

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; 

it stops to think. 

Music is immediate, 

it goes on to become.

The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. 

There is always more mystery.

Perhaps I am doomed to retrace my steps 

under the illusion that I am exploring, 

doomed to try and learn 

what I should simply recognise, 

learning a mere fraction 

of what I have forgotten.

Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and end of political education.

When I do good 

I feel good, 

when I do bad 

I feel bad, 

and that's my religion.

I love fools' experiments. 

I am always making them.

A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant 

may see farther than a giant himself.

Education is the leading of human souls to what is best, 

and making what is best out of them.

Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, 

never completely forget about it.

Any feeling that I was enriching my mind 

from those surrounding me 

was unfortunately rare with me.

If we go on explaining 

we shall cease to understand one another.

No one feels another's grief, 

no one understands another's joy. 

People imagine they can reach one another. 

In reality they only pass each other by.

How sad it is 

that these great gentlemen should believe what anyone tells them 

and do not choose to judge for themselves! 

But it is always so.

Take care of the sense 

and the sounds will take care of themselves.

The more one pleases everybody, 

the less one pleases profoundly.

There are no lines in nature, 

only areas of colour, 

one against another.

In criticism I will be bold, 

and as sternly, 

absolutely just 

with friend and foe. 

From this purpose nothing shall turn me.

To understand a science, 

it is necessary to know its history.

For all life is a dream, 

and dreams themselves 

are only dreams.

The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.

The important thing is this: 

to be able, 

at any moment, 

to sacrifice what we are 

for what we could become.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? 

Because thinking determines life.

The good life is a process, 

not a state of being. 

It is a direction 

not a destination.

The wise does at once 

what the fool does at last.

The soul is individualised spirit.

Courage is found in unlikely places.

There's no sense in being precise 

when you don't even know what you're talking about.

We used to think 

that if we knew one, 

we knew two, 

because one and one are two. 

We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'.