Why do villains have so much influence? Because the honest people are terribly dense.

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

Who claims that the heathen's view of the world is incorrect? Life gives you nothing! It is ruled by false gods! Nothing remains true to you but your own self; provided you remain true to it.

When we interpret nature, we refer phenomena that are rarely entirely unintelligible back to something that actually exists, but is equally unintelligible.

When the theater gates open, a mob pours inside, and it is the poet's task to turn it into an audience.

It's actually the spirit helping the spirit; it is the doctor, the bed, the potion.

People of talent resemble a musical instrument more closely than they do a musician. Without outside help, they produce not a single sound, but given even the slightest touch, and a magnificent tune emanates from them.