Beauty satisfies the senses completely and at the same time uplifts the soul. That which gratifies the senses is pleasant, and that which uplifts the soul without being sensual in the least is good, true, right, anything you like, but not beautiful.

Chance arrives unannounced. It emerges, and when it leaves, we are lucky if the changes it has produced are only external.

Even with limited intelligence, knowing oneself is not as difficult as some say, but to act according to what one has realized about oneself in real life is as difficult as practicing anything else, compared to theory.

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

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

Strength, strength alone, is honorable, the German nation clamors in its majesty. But since it is hard to muster strength so suddenly, they have to make do with boorishness.

A book is quite a beautiful thing, even more so learning. Together, however, all they amount to is called book-learning.