Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.

A successful lie is doubly a lie; an error which has to be corrected is a heavier burden than the truth.

You are the lens in the beam. You can only receive, give, and possess the light as the lens does. If you seek yourself, you rob the lens of its transparency. You will know life and be acknowledged by it according to your degree of transparency, your capacity, that is, to vanish as an end, and remain purely as a means.

Do not look back. And do not dream about the future, either. It will neither give you back the past, nor satisfy your other daydreams. Your duty, your reward- your destiny-are here and now.