We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.
For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.
He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.
It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.
The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.
Upon the creatures we have made, we are, ourselves, at last, dependent.
What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.
Music is either sacred or secular. The sacred agrees with its dignity, and here has its greatest effect on life, an effect that remains the same through all ages and epochs. Secular music should be cheerful throughout.
What I possess, seems far away to me, and what is gone becomes reality.
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.
Waste not a day in vain digression; with resolute, courageous trust seek every possible impression and make it firmly your posession you’ll then work on because you must.
In the colorful reflection we have what is life.
Faust: Who holds the devil, let him hold him well, He hardly will be caught a second time.
To be loved for what one is, that is the greatest exception. The great majority love in others only what they lend him; their own selves, their version of him.
I wait for the morning of my tears.
The highest goal that man can achieve is amazement.
A word spoken is a terrible thing when it suddenly utters what the heart has long allowed.
People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.