Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself. It means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance.

Life is so full of troubles and vexations. One must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.

As Ludovico Ariosto observes, "How miserable are the idle hours of ignorant men!"

Sent forth into the world outwardly rich but inwardly poor, his vain endeavor was to make his external wealth compensate for his inner poverty.

Consider how sordid, how stupid — in a word, how vulgar — most men are, and you will see that it is impossible to talk to them without becoming vulgar yourself for the time being.

The life of a fool is worse than death.

As Voltaire says, "We shall leave this world as foolish and as wicked as we found it on our arrival."

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

The total picture of life is almost too painful for contemplation.

To be happy, one must be as ignorant as youth. Youths think that willing and striving are joys. They have not yet discovered the weary insatiableness of desire, and the fruitlessness of fulfillment. They do not yet see the inevitableness of defeat.