Distinctly different as a child, as an adolescent, in his prime and in his old age, man considers himself as one, not because he acts, but because he knows.

I love the pride whose measure is its own eminence and not the insignificance of someone else.

If only it were God's will that printed and written materials have as much influence on the people as the princes and their censors fear! Considering the countless good books we have, the world would have changed for the better a long time ago.

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.

A man may welcome his beloved with circumstance, but a woman's love and her concern for his well-being are discreet.

Piety is the fermentation of the forming mind and the putrefaction of the disintegrating one.

Reason and the ability to use it are two separate skills.