And, after all, what is a lie? ‚Tis but the truth in a masquerade.

Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.

What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.

To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

Temperance is a mean with regard to pleasures.

I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability.

We are doomed to cling to a life even while we find it unendurable.

Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.

Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.

There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.

It’s really easy to have a nice philosophy about openness, but moving the world in that direction is a different thing. It requires both understanding where you want to go and being pragmatic about getting there.

It is better to be deceived by one’s friends than to deceive them.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.

In order to exist just once in the world, it is necessary never again to exist.

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.

To be conscious means not simply to be, but to be reported, known, to have awareness of one’s being added to that being.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Seeing is not always believing.

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.

I tell you in truth: all men are Prophets or else God does not exist.

Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.

As long as the people don’t fear the truth, there is hope. For once they fear it, the one who tells it doesn’t stand a chance. And today, truth is still beautiful… but so frightening.

A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known.

To do a great right do a little wrong.

What we live by we die by.

Tell the children the truth.

To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!

What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

The worst crime is faking it.

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself.

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.

Where knowledge ends, religion begins.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

You don’t tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.

Absence and death are the same – only that in death there is no suffering.

One crime has to be concealed by another.

Nothing cannot exist forever.

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.