Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The field of experience is the whole universe in all directions. Theory remains shut up within the limits of human faculties.
These auspicious aspects, which the astrologers subsequently interpreted for me, may have been the causes of my preservation.
People of uncommon abilities generally fall into eccentricities when their sphere of life is not adequate to their abilities.
That we understand something perfectly, that we accomplish something better than anyone else around us, that is what matters.
Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through.
Master and Doctor are my titles; for ten years now, without repose, I held my erudite recitals and led my pupils by the nose.
In politics people throw themselves, as on a sickbed, from one side to the other in the belief they will lie more comfortably.
There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art.
It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.
The soul of man is like to water; from Heaven it cometh, to Heaven it riseth And then returning to earth, forever alternating.
To blow is not to play on the flute; you must move the fingers. [Ger., Blasen ist nicht floten, ihr musst die Finger bewegen.]
The greater part of all the mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims.
Poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere, and at all times, in hundreds and hundreds of men.
Sound and sufficient reason falls, after all, to the share of but few men, and those few men exert their influence in silence.
We blame equally him who is too proud to put a proper value on his own merit and him who prizes too highly his spurious worth.
Certain books seem to be written, not that we might learn from them, but in order that we might see how much the author knows.
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
Time is a strange thing. It is a whimsical tyrant, which in every century has a different face for all that one says and does.
The day is for mistake and error, sequence of time for success and carrying out. The one who anticipates is master of the day.
Treat people the way they are and they will stay that way. Treat people the way they can become and they will become that way.
Several classical sayings that one likes to repeat had quite a different meaning from the ones later times attributed to them.
The beautiful is a phenomenon which is never apparent of itself, but is reflected in a thousand different works of the creator.
Every idea appears at first as a strange visitor, and when it begins to be realized, it is hardly distinguishable from fantasy.
Wouldst thou ever roam abroad? See, what is good lies by thy side. Only learn to catch happiness, for happiness is ever by you.
Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny
Nature reacts not only to physical disease, but also to moral weakness; when the danger increases; she gives us greater courage
Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.
Behavior is a mirror in which every one shows his image. [Ger., Das Betragen ist ein Spiegel in welchem jeder sein Bild zeigt.]
Very few people love others for what they are; rather, they love what they lend them, their own selves, their own idea of them.
If your treat an individual... as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. But I am sure that figures show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.
[W]hat counts is that one perceives excellence and dares to give it expression, which sounds little but is in fact a great deal.
nothing puts me so completely out of patience as the utterance of a wretched commonplace when I am talking from my inmost heart.
We can stand only a certain amount of unhappiness; anything beyond that annihilates us or passes us by, leaving us apathethetic.
The effects of good music are not just because it's new; on the contrary music strikes us more the more familiar we are with it.
Everything we do has a result. But that which is right and prudent does not always lead to good, nor the contrary to what is bad.
Humor is one of the elements of genius--admirable as an adjunct; but as soon as it becomes dominant, only a surrogate for genius.
If each one does their duty as an individual and if each one works in their own proper vocation, it will be right with the whole.
How many kings are governed by their ministers, how many ministers by their secretaries? Who, in such cases, is really the chief?
Art rests on a kind of religious sense, on a deep, steadfast earnestness; and on this account it unites so readily with religion.
Let us seek to fathom those things that are fathomable and reserve those things which are unfathomable for reverence in quietude.
What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure.
Nothing is more consonant with Nature than that she puts into operation in the smallest detail that which she intends as a whole.
A man may twist as he pleases, and do what he pleases, but he inevitably comes back to the track to which nature has destined him.
If the world does improve on the whole, yet youth must always begin anew, and go through the stages of culture from the beginning.
A well-bred carriage is difficult to imitate; for in strictness it is negative, and it implies a long-continued previous training.
Once I blazed across the sky, Leaving trails of flame; I fell to earth, and here I lie - Who'll help me up again? -A Shooting Star
We are forced to participate in the games of life before we can possibly learn how to use the options in the rules governing them.
Prudent and active men, who know their strength and use it with limit and circumspection, alone go far in the affairs of the world.
Some of our weaknesses are born in us, others are the result of education; it is a question which of the two gives us most trouble.