Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.
I have always kept one end in view, namely… to conduct a well-regulated church music to the honor of God.
Come, butterfly It's late We've miles to go together.
Europe is overpopulated, the world will soon be in the same condition, and if the self-reproduction of man is not rationalized... we' ll have war.
The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.
Later, in a more perfect society, someone else made just like me is certain to appear and act freely.
To be able to translate the customs, ideas and appearance of my times as I see them – in a word, to create a living art – this has been my aim.
When one is young, is too soon. When one is old, is too late.
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.
Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth in 200 b.C.
The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”
Love can isolate us from everything around us. But in its absence, we can be filled with the fear that something comparable exists.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.
Even when I am being idle, I have plenty of food for thought, both early and late - thoughts both about and not about art.
Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated
Scientific knowledge advances haltingly and is stimulated by contention and doubt.
One cannot violate the promptings of one's nature without having that nature recoil upon itself.
There was no sign of Plato, and I was told later that he had gone to live in his Republic, where he was cheerfully submitting to his own Laws. [...] None of the Stoics were present. Rumour had it that they were still clambering up the steep hill of Virtue [...]. As for the Sceptics, it appeared that they were extremely anxious to get there, but still could not quite make up their minds whether or not the island really existed.
Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.
I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate.
If there is one thing that the women and men of the late 20th century who have an awareness and enjoyment of history can be sure of, it is that Islam was not sent from Heaven to foster egotism and mediocrity.
In the attempt to defeat death man has been inevitably obliged to defeat life, for the two are inextricably related. Life moves on to death, and to deny one is to deny the other.
In the infancy of societies, the chiefs of state shape its institutions; later the institutions shape the chiefs of state.
“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people.
In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.
Eat on the grass Hurry up Sooner or later The grass will eat on you"
The time at our disposal each day is elastic; the passions we feel dilate it, those that inspire us shrink it, and habit fills it.
There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible.
To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings.
Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behaviour nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds.
The real composer thinks about his work the whole time; he is not always conscious of this, but he is aware of it later when he suddenly knows what he will do.
Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
The collision of hail or rain with hard surfaces, or the song of cicadas in a summer field. These sonic events are made out of thousands of isolated sounds; this multitude of sounds, seen as totality, is a new sonic event.
One must be convinced to convince, to have enthusiasm to stimulate the others.