The philosopher aspires to explain away all mysteries, to dissolve them into light. Mystery on the other hand is demanded and pursued… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Let mystery have its place in you ; do not be always turning up your whole soil with the ploughshare of self-examination,… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Self-interest is an inexhaustible source of convenient illusions. The number of beings who wish to see truly is extraordinarily small. — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh - over fear...Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage. — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Civilization is first of all a moral thing. Without truth, respect for duty, love of neighbor, and virtue, everything is destroyed. The… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Man never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has, wants to re-establish them. Ignorance… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Criticism is above all a gift, an intuition, a matter of tact and flair; it cannot be taught or demonstrated--it is an… — Henri Frederic Amiel Art Copy Share Image
Pay bad people with your goodness; fight their hatred with your kindness. Even if you do not achieve a victory over other… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Everything which is, is thought, but not conscious and individual thought. The human intelligence is but the consciousness of being. It is… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
It gives liberty and breadth to thought, to learn to judge our own epoch from the point of view of universal history,… — Henri Frederic Amiel Astronomy Copy Share Image
Liberty, equality - bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble is protection and kindness. — Henri Frederic Amiel Compassion Copy Share Image
Men of genius supply the substance of history, while the mass of men are but the critical filter, the limiting, slackening, passive… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful,… — Henri Frederic Amiel Feminism Copy Share Image
The masses are the material of democracy, but its form-that is to say, the laws which express the general reason, justice, and… — Henri Frederic Amiel Democracy Copy Share Image
The ideal doctor would be a man endowed with profound knowledge of life and of the soul, intuitively divining any suffering or… — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
I do not deny the rights of democracy, but I have no illusions as to the uses that will be made of… — Henri Frederic Amiel Democracy Copy Share Image
A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to… — Henri Frederic Amiel Action Copy Share Image
Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism, and doubt. — Henri Frederic Amiel Action Copy Share Image
There is no repose for the mind except in the absolute; for feeling, except in the infinite; for the soul, except in… — Henri Frederic Amiel Absolutes Copy Share Image
Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty. — Henri Frederic Amiel Adversity Copy Share Image
Men don't achieve truth because they lack humility and love of truth. They won't criticize their own beliefs. Truth would overwhelm them. — Henri Frederic Amiel Copy Share Image
