Henri Frederic Amiel

"Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false."

"He who asks of life nothing but the improvement of his own nature... is less liable than anyone else to miss and waste life."

"Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind."

"Order is power."

"Pure truth cannot be assimilated by the crowd; it must be communicated by contagion."

"The best path through life is the highway."

"The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings."

"There is no respect for others without humility in one's self."

"To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy."

"To marry unequally is to suffer equally."

"True humility is contentment."

"Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves."