What a pathetic creature is man! His senses are awakened by the hope for the very thing whose consummation puts him to sleep.

Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock asnot going wrong. The first objective for a clock, is, however, that it does run; not going wrong is an additional regulative function. If not a watch's greatest accomplishment were not going wrong, unwound watches might be the best.

He who takes people for smart pays an expensive lesson.

You ardently strive for freedom, and I do wish you were free--but, rather than for your sake, so that government won't be.

Feeling and thinking are actually the blind man who carries the lame.

It's the misfortune of German authors that not a single one of them dares to expose his true character. Everyone thinks that he has to be better than he is.

There is one privilege we'll never lose; currently it's called nationality. It means that everyone was born somewhere, which is infact self-evident.