German civility, which often seems stiff to us, shows an attentive and touching respect for the person that I often prefer to our offhandedness.

The sight or sound of perfect things causes a certain suffering.

Our present-day artists do not transform, they deform. That gives pleasure to nobody. It changes everything, therefore it changes nothing.

Gaiety is forgetfulness of the self, melancholy is memory of the self: in that state the soul feels all the power of its roots, nothing distracts it from its profound homeland and the look that it casts upon the outer world is gently dismayed.

Unkindness almost always stands for the displeasure that one has in oneself.

German civility, which often seems stiff to us, shows an attentive and touching respect for the person that I often prefer to our offhandedness.

It matters less to venerate things than to live with them on terms of good friendship.