Nothing is less promising than precocity. A young thistle is more like a future tree than is a young oak.
In youth we learn; in age we understand.
There are more truths in a good book than its author meant to put in it.
Those who cannot remember clearly their own childhood are poor educators.
The moral code which was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for our children.
The believer who has never doubted will hardly convert a doubter.
There is something so beautiful in trust that even the most hardened liar need feel a certain respect for those who confide in him.
Do not consider yourself deprived because your dreams were not fulfilled; the truly deprived have never dreamed.
One has to do good in order for it to exist in the world.
A defeat borne with pride is also a victory.
One can acquire some virtues by feigning them for a long time.
Distrust your judgment the moment you can discern the shadow of a personal motive in it.
The little bit of truth contained in many a lie is what makes them so terrible.
Morals refine manners, as manners refine morals.
It’s bad enough when married people bore one another, but it’s much worse when only one of them bores the other.
Runners are poor walkers.
Origins are of the greatest importance. We are almost reconciled to having a cold when we remember where we caught it.
In youth we learn; in age we understand. – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach.
It is difficult to see the person who admires us as stupid.
The world would be in better shape if people would take the same pains in the practice of the simplest moral laws as they exert in intellectualizing over the most subtle moral questions.
Wir suchen die Wahrheit, finden wollen wir sie aber nur dort, wo es uns beliebt.