Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.

Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius.

We only understand that which already within us.

Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty.

Common sense is calculation applied to life.

Tell me what you feel in your room when the full moon is shining in upon you and your lamp is dying out, and I will tell you how old you are, and I shall know if you are happy.

He who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his own nature... is less liable than anyone else to miss and waste life.

It is not what he had, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.

We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves.

Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.

For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.

If nationality is consent, the state is compulsion.

Sacrifice, which is the passion of great souls, has never been the law of societies.

The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.

Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.

Society lives by faith, and develops by science.

To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy.

Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists.

Let us be true: this is the highest maxim of art and of life, the secret of eloquence and of virtue, and of all moral authority.

Any landscape is a condition of the spirit.

An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains.

Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence.

Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well.

Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.

Sympathy is the first condition of criticism.

To marry unequally is to suffer equally.

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.

In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past - a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared.

I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel.

To shun one's cross is to make it heavier.

Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin.

Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers.

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.

Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.

Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing.

Destiny has two ways of crushing us - by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.

Order is power.

Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness.

Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.

The only substance properly so called is the soul.

The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings.

Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.

The best path through life is the highway.

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.

To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.