We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out discretion, and so disappears the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.
Viewed from the summit of reason, all life looks like a malignant disease and the world like a madhouse.
Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not to-day; Still forward press, nor never tire! The possible, with steadfast trust, Resolve should be by the forelock grasp. Then she will ne’er let go her clasp, And labors on, because she must.
Why should we not recognize in the lightning, the thunder, and the storm wind, the approach of an overwhelming Power, and in the scent of flowers and the gently rustling zephyr the presence of a Being full of love?
A king there was once reigning, Who had a goodly flea, Him loved he without feigning, As his own son were he!
Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one’s best.
Whoever strikes at marriage either by word or act undermines the foundation of all moral society.
Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt. Man errs as long as he strives.
One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man.
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.
The Woman-Soul leadeth us upward and on!
Fools and wise men are equally harmless. It is the half-fools and half-wise that are dangerous.
Faith is like private capital, stored in one’s own house. It is like a public savings bank or loan office, from which individuals receive assistance in their days of need; but here the creditor quietly takes his interest for himself.
The child, offered the mother’s breast, Will not in the beginning grab it; But soon it clings to it with zest. And thus at wisdom’s copious breasts You’ll drink each day with greater zest.
Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it is securely founded; that it be successfully executed.
Art is constitutive-the artist determines beauty. He does not take it over.
The ideal of beauty is simplicity and tranquility.
Do not, I beg you, look for anything behind phenomena. They are themselves their own lesson.
Seize this very minute. What you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Begin it and the work will be completed.
Since I have heard often enough that everyone in the end has his own religion, nothing seemed more natural to me than to fashion my own.