Philosophers From Switzerland

"I know that I'm the happiest of lovers..."

"Carrying on with the conversation like a woman when the bill comes..."

"My reality doesn't lie in the part I play, but in the unconscious decision as to what kind of part I assign to myself."

"It is the secret that a man and a woman keep from each other that makes them a couple"

"Technology [is] the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it."

"'Everything that is human looks like a special case'"

"How much self-knowledge is limited to presenting other people with a more precise and exact description of our weaknesses."

"You merely had an affair with me, to be exact, and therefore no right to prevent me from another affair.'"

"Cause and effect are never divided between two people"

"The horror of uncreative solitude....."

"Nothing is harder than to accept oneself."

"You can't make the incomprehensible comprehensible without losing it completely."

"The renunciation of recognition will never become possible without a certitude that our life is directed by a suprahuman authority."

"Overcoming prejudice: the only possible way through love, which creates no graven images."

"It is a sign of non love that is to say a sin, to form a finished image of ones neighbors."

"The sort of misery that brings no moral reward, misery that is of no value to the mind and soul, that is the true misery, it is hopeless, bestial and nothing else."

"Who makes quick use of the moment is a genius of prudence."

"The discovery of truth by slow progressive meditation is wisdom. Intuition of truth, not preceded by perceptible meditation, is genius."

"You may tell a man, thou art a fiend, but not, your nose wants blowing. To him alone who can bear a thing of that kind, you may tell all."

"Who in the same given time can produce more than others has vigor; who can produce more and better, has talents; who can produce what none else can, has genius."

"All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich."

"Never tell evil of a man, if you do not know it for certainty, and if you know it for a certainty, then ask yourself, 'Why should I tell it?'"

"Who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius among those who study nature."

"Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity."

"Say not you know another entirely, till you have divided an inheritance with him."

"Happy the heart to whom God has given enough strength and courage to suffer for Him, to find happiness in simplicity and the happiness of others."

"I am prejudiced in favour of him who can solicit boldly, without imprudence. He has faith in humanity — he has faith in himself. No one who is not accustomed to give grandly can ask nobly and with boldness."

"Too much gravity argues a shallow mind."

"If you mean to know yourself, interline such of these aphorisms as affect you agreeably in reading, and set a mark to such as left a sense of uneasiness with you; and then show your copy to whom you please."

"He submits to be seen through a microscope, who suffers himself to be caught in a fit of passion."

"Venerate four characters: the sanguine, who has checked volatility and the rage for pleasure; the choleric, who has subdued passion and pride; the phlegmatic, emerged from indolence; and the melancholy, who has dismissed avarice, suspicion and asperity."

"All great minds sympathize."

"The public seldom forgive twice."

"Actions, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell characters."

"Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship."

"Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who sees him not in man."

"Trust not him with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers."

"A woman whose ruling passion is not vanity, is superior to any man of equal faculties."

"The prudent sees only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both, diminishes those, makes these preponderate, and conquers."

"The jealous is possessed by a "fine mad devil" and a dull spirit at once."

"Good may be done by the bad — but the good alone can be good."

"Trust him little who praises all, him less who censures all, and him least of all who is indifferent about all."

"There are but three classes of men — the retrograde, the stationary, the progressive."

"If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic."

"He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice, and never ceases nibbling."

"Him, who incessantly laughs in the street, you may commonly hear grumbling in his closet."

"Have you ever seen a pedant with a warm heart?"

"The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint — the affectation of sanctity is a blotch on the face of piety."

"Superstition always inspires littleness, religion grandeur of mind: the superstitious raises beings inferior to himself to deities."

"The craftiest wiles are too short and ragged a cloak to cover a bad heart."