Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
A man is not little when he finds it difficult to cope with circumstances, but when circumstances overmaster him.
A vain man can never be utterly ruthless: he wants to win applause and therefore he accommodates himself to others
Analysis and synthesis are both as necessary to the thinking spirit as inspiration and expiration to the organism.
Habit is a man's sole comfort. We dislike doing without even unpleasant things to which we have become accustomed.
Alas! how much there is in education, and in our social institutions, to prepare us and our children for insanity.
We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
Man can find no better retreat from the world than art, and man can find no stronger link with the world than art.
Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.
Since you know me and my destiny only too well, you probably also know what attracts me to all unfortunate people.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
The new vulcanism is really a daring attempt to connect the present, incomprehensible world to a past, unknown one.
With little wit and ease to suit them, They whirl in narrow circling trails, Like kittens playing with their tails.
What a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it!
Toleration ought in reality to be merely a transitory mood. It must lead to recognition. To tolerate is to affront.
Error is to truth as sleep is to waking. I have observed that one turns, as if refreshed, from error back to truth.
What chance gathers, she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.
Doesn't surprise me that Christ our Lord preferred to live with whores and sinners, seeing I go in for that myself.
Let him who believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence; he has no reason to give himself airs about it.
The Christian religion, though scattered and abroad will in the end gather itself together at the foot of the cross.
The most difficult thing is what is thought to be the simplest; to really see the things which are before your eyes.
A man must cling to the belief that the incomprehensible is comprehensible; otherwise he would not try to fathom it.
It is not enough to have knowledge; one must apply it. It is not enough to have wishes; one must also accomplish it.
As long as you are not aware of the continual law of Die and Be Again, you are merely a vague guest on a dark Earth.
Lamps make oil-spots and candles need snuffing; it is only the light of heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.
Rest not Life is sweeping by go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
Truth is a torch, but a terrific one; therefore we all try to reach it with closed eyes, lest we should be scorched.
Why go further and further, Look, happiness is right here. Learn how to grab hold of luck, For luck is always there.
The poet should seize the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.
Neither art thou the man to catch the fiend and hold him! [Ger., Du bist noch nicht der Mann den Teufel festzuhalten.
For many people, one of the most frustrating aspects of life is not being able to understand other people's behavior.
The realization of the self is only possible if one is productive, if one can give birth to one's own potentialities.
People do not mind their faults being spread out before them, but they become impatient if called on to give them up.
The beginning of faith is the beginning of fruitfulness; but the beginning of unbelief, however glittering, is empty.
It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.
I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing.
What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?
Who enslaves another's manhood with weak human power alone, Lays a heavier yoke of bondage thoughtlessly upon his own.
The greatest piece of folly is that every man thinks himself compelled to hand down what people think they have known.
The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive.
Shakespeare is dangerous to young poets; they cannot but reproduce him, while they fancy that they produce themselves.
So long as you live and work, you will be misunderstood; to that you must resign yourself once and for all. Be silent!
That is the way of youth and life in general: that we do not understand the strategy until after the campaign is over.
A vain man can never be altogether rude. Desirous as he is of pleasing, he fashions his manners after those of others.
Gifts come from above in their own peculiar forms. [Ger., Die Gaben Kommen von oben herab, in ihren eignen Gestalten.]
For the butterfly, mating and propagation involve the sacrifice of life, for the human being, the sacrifice of beauty.
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Rest not. Life is sweeping by; go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.
The finished man, you know, is difficult to please; a growing mind will ever show you gratitude. --Faust 1, lines 182-3