I would love to be able to write a tragedy in my imagination--it would turn into a masterpiece.

The German mind, may it live! Almost invisible as a mind, it finally manifests itself assertively as a conviction.

Is it true that one travels in order to know mankind? It is easier to get to know other people at home, but abroad one gets to know oneself.

German diligence is actually endurance.

You say I'm small? I certainly can relate, although it is a matter of perspective. The distance is deceptive, my friend, you standtoo low.

As youth lives in the future, so the adult lives in the past: No one rightly knows how to live in the present.

A pious woman's neighbor, a philanthropist's child, a liberal's servant--these three have a hard life.