Right and proof are two crutches for everything bent and crooked that limps along.

Captivating the spirit of the age is a matter of great talent; being swept away by it characterizes an average mind. The two are as different from one another as activity and passivity.

What's the meaning of all the pious clamor, condemning cocks and hens? Those who have no teeth are the greatest meat-haters.

The spirit of poetry combines the profundity of the philosopher and the child's delight in bright pictures.

Schiller moves upward. Goethe comes from up above.

Today is, after all, today, but yesterday is of the same substance as tomorrow.

This searching and doubting and vacillating where nothing is clear but the arrogance of quest. I, too, had such noble ideas when I was still a boy.