You must choose among all these things. You must draw out of the current what you recognize as of value to you, and let the rest sink.
I beg you, keep the reckoning of your own soul. Keep a little book in your pocket that is carefully brought up to date. And do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it.
You must not have too much fear of not being up to your task when you are approaching great problems and great works.
That is something worth meditating for him who sets himself to obtaining possession of the world, who wishes to invite his companions to do the same.
Though it may have all the appearance of naïveté, confidence is less to be feared than the terror of ridicule that paralyzes so many souls at the beginning of the most beautiful adventures.
The fear of enthusiasm does as much harm as obvious wickedness.
It is better to pass for a simpleton and become the laughing-stock of the disillusioned than to miss the opportunity to serve as the apostle of one’s beloved verities. It is better to squander one’s fortune than to run the risk of being the only one to profit from it. There will always be a farthing to fall into eager hands.
The main thing is to be, above everything else, a man of good will.
The true enemy, if there is any such, is the pharisee, the man of outward observance, he who adopts every religion as a matter of fashion, who speaks frequently and passionately of his soul in the same way in which he speaks of his necktie.