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Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.
When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man’s name live for thousands of years.
If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can’t deny a kind of respect for the great criminal.
Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.