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Our possibilities of happiness are already restricted by our constitution. Unhappiness is much less difficult to experience. We are threatened with su...more

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The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.

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We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast and very little from a state of things.

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The question of the purpose of human life has been raised countless times; it has never yet received a satisfactory answer and perhaps does not admit ...more

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We will therefore turn to the less ambitious question of what men themselves show by their behavior to be the purpose and intention of their lives. Wh...more

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The words which we use in our everyday speech are nothing other than watered-down magic.

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Men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creature...more

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Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.

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Conscience is the internal perception of the rejection of a particular wish operating in us.

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It is a predisposition of human nature to consider an unpleasant idea untrue, and then it is easy to find arguments against it.

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Men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creature...more

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It sounds like a fairy-tale, but not only that; this story of what man by his science and practical inventions has achieved on this earth, where he fi...more

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It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built up upon a renunciation of instinct....

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Men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creature...more

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In the depths of my heart I can’t help being convinced that my dear fellow-men, with a few exceptions, are worthless.