he does not carry it to an absurd
length, we willingly put up with it.

People whip curds to see if they cannot make cream of them.

Wisdom lies only in truth.

When I err, every one can see it; but not when I lie.

Before the storm breaks, the dust rises violently for the last time--the
dust that is soon to be laid for ever.

Men do not come to know one another easily, even with the best will and
the best purpose. And then ill-will comes in and distorts everything.

In the world the point is, not to know men, but at any given moment to
be cleverer than the man who stands before you. You can prove this at
every fair and from every charlatan.

Not everywhere where there is water, are there frogs; but where you have
frogs, there you will find water.

In the formation of species Nature gets, as it were, into a cul-de-sac;
she cannot make her way through, and is disinclined to turn back. Hence
the stubbornness of national character.

Many a man knocks about on the wall with his hammer, and believes that
he hits the right nail on the head every time.

Those who oppose intellectual truths do but stir up the fire, and the
cinders fly about and burn what they had else not touched.

Those from whom we are always learning are rightly called our masters;
but not every one who teaches us deserves this title.

It is with you as with the sea: the most varied names are given to what
is in the end only salt water.

It is said that vain self-praise stinks in the nostrils. That may be so;
but for the kind of smell which comes from unjust blame by others the
public has no nose at all.

There are problematical natures which are equal to no position in which
they find themselves, and which no position satisfies. This it is that
causes that hideous conflict which wastes life and deprives it of all
pleasure.

Dirt glitters as long as the sun shines.

He is the happiest man who can set the end of his life in connection
with the beginning.

A state of things in which every day brings some new trouble is not the
right one.

The Hindoos of the Desert make a solemn vow to eat no fish.

To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess it may be taken,
but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.

Truth belongs to the man, error to his age. This is why it has been said
that, while the misfortune of the age caused his error, the force of his
soul made him emerge from the error with glory.

I pity those who make mu