Quotes to inspire and reflect

Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive.

To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.

Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?

The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.

He who has attained the freedom of reason to any extent cannot, for a long time, regard himself otherwise than as a wanderer on the face of the earth - and not even as a traveler towards a final goal, for there is no such thing. But he certainly wants to observe and keep his eyes open to whatever actually happens in the world; therefore he cannot attach his heart too firmly to anything individual; he must have in himself something wandering that takes pleasure in change and transitoriness.

In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound, the delicacies and thrills for the refined, and, to sum up shortly, everything rare for the rare.

Art is the proper task of life.

The overman...Who has organized the chaos of his passions, given style to his character, and become creative. Aware of life's terrors, he affirms life without resentment.

Love, too, has to be learned.

What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.

Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not.

The spiritualization of sensuality is called love: it is a great triumph over Christianity.

Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.

One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.

Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.

I'll give you my phone number. When you worried, call me! I make you happy.

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time…

It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living.

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly; devils fall because of their gravity.

It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.

There are occasions and causes, why and wherefore in all things.

A gift is pure when it is given from the heart when we expect nothing in return.

If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.

If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.

You pray in your distress and in your need; you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

If we live truly, we shall see truly.

You've got to love what's loveable and hate what's hateable. It takes brains to see the difference.

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.

Love the life you live, live the life you love.

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

I’ve never dropped anyone I believed in.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

Everything in the universe goes by indirection. There are no straight lines.

I’m not confused, I’m just well mixed.

You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.

We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.

Of all the creatures of earth, only human beings can change their patterns. Man alone is the architect of his destiny. ... Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

It’s a funny thing about life. If you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, that’s what it will give you.

Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.

The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.

The tragedy of life is not so much what we suffer, but rather what we miss.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts. Put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible.