Folk music is the original melody of man; it is the musical mirror of the world.

Every achievement, every step forward in knowledge, is the consequence of courage, of toughness towards oneself, of sincerity to oneself

One is necessary, one is a piece of fate, one belongs to the whole, one is the whole - there exists nothing which could judge, measure, compare, condemn our being, for that would be to judge, measure, compare, condemn the whole...But nothing exists apart from the whole!

One is punished best for one's virtues.

What was formerly merely sickly now becomes indecent : it is indecent to be a Christian today.

One has to take a somewhat bold and dangerous line with this existence: especially as, whatever happens, we are bound to lose it.

Everyone nowadays lives through too much and thinks through too little: they have a ravenous appetite and colic at the same time so that they keep getting thinner and thinner no matter how much they eat.--Whoever says nowadays, "I have not experienced anything"--is a simpleton.