Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.
For the nature of a women is closely allied to art. [Ger., Denn das Naturell der Frauen Ist so nah mit Kunst verwandt.]
Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or creditors before we have had time to look around.
For a strolling damsel a doubtful reputation bears. [Ger., Denn ein wanderndes Madchen ist immer von schwankendem Rufe.]
A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.
When I err every one can see it, but not when I lie. [Ger., Wenn ich irre kann es jeder bemerken; wenn ich luge, nicht.]
Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any; but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.- Henry Ward Beecher - I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
If a poet would work politically, he must give himself up to a party; and so soon as he does that, he is lost as a poet.
Man cannot persist long in a conscious state, he must throw himself back into the unconscious, for his root lives there.
It matters little whether a man be mathematically or philologically or artistically cultivated, so he be but cultivated.
And we went our separate ways without having understood each other. As in this world nobody understands the other easily.
The person who in shaky times also wavers only increases the evil, but the person of firm decision fashions the universe.
How often do I lull my seething blood to rest, for you have never seen anything so unsteady, so uncertain, as this heart.
He who is firm in will molds the world to himself. [Ger., Aber wer fest auf dem Sinne beharrt, der bildet die Welt sich.]
A noble man is led far by woman's gentle words. [Ger., Ein edler Mann wird durch ein gutes Wort Der Frauen weit gefuhrt.]
There are few who have at once thought and capacity for action. Thought expands, but lames; action animates, but narrows.
Fortunately, we can take in only so much misfortune; what exceeds that limit either destroys us or leaves us indifferent.
To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess: it may be taken, but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.
He who possesses science and art, Possesses religion as well; He who possesses neither of these, Had better have religion.
All that is noble is in itself of a quiet nature, and appears to sleep until it is aroused and summoned forth by contrast.
Every reader, if he has a strong mind, reads himself into the book, and amalgamates his thoughts with those of the author.
What must the English and French think of the language of our philosophers when we Germans do not understand it ourselves?
What have the Germans gained by their boasted freedom of the press, except the liberty of abusing each other as they like?
I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners.
Who is the happiest man? He who is alive to the merit of others, and can rejoice in their enjoyment as if it were his own.
Who longs in solitude to live, Ah! soon his wish will gain: Men hope and love, men get and give, and leave him to his pain.
He who is wise puts aside all claims which may dissipate his attention, and confining himself to one branch excels in that.
Without haste! without rest! Bind the motto to thy breast! Bear it with thee as a spell; Storm or sunshine , guard it well.
Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned.
When Nature begins to reveal her open secret to a man, he feels an irresistible longing for her worthiest interpreter, Art.
Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.
No limit, no definition, may restrict the range or depth of the human spirit's passage into its own secrets or the world's.
We should treat children as God does us, who makes us happiest when He leaves us under the influence of innocent delusions.
I am part of the part that once was everything, Part of the darkness which gave birth to light… Mephistopheles, from Faust.
Stones are mute teachers; they silence the observer, and the most valuable lesson we learn from them we cannot communicate.
Hold your powers together for something good and let everything go that is for you without result and is not suited to you.
To every one [Nature] appears in a form of his own. She hides herself in a thousand names and terms, and is always the same.
I come more and more to the conclusion that one must take the side of the minority which is always the more intelligent one.
It is better for you to suffer an injustice than for the world to be without law. Therefore, let everyone submit to the law.
What reason would grope for in vain, spontaneous impulse ofttimes achieves at a stroke, with light and pleasureful guidance.
Care is taken that trees do not grow into the sky. [Ger., Es ist dafur gesorgt, dass die Baume nicht in den Himmel wachsen.]
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen.He who is ignorant of foreign languages, knows not his own.
There is nothing more frightful than an active ignorance. [Ger., Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige Unwissenheit.]
The best genius is that which absorbs and assimilates everything without doing the least violence to its fundamental destiny.
We are the slaves of objects around us, and appear little or important according as these contract or give us room to expand.
The thinker makes a great mistake when he asks after cause and effect. They both together make up the indivisible phenomenon.
True love is love that stays constant for ever, whatever it's fortune; whether requited or scored, filled or sent empty away.
Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.