The wittiest authors evoke a barely perceptible smile.

Youth is an unpleasant period; for then it is not possible or not prudent to be productive in any sense whatsoever.

there they laugh: they do not understand me; I am not the mouth for these ears.

There are two types of genius; one which above all begets and wants to beget, and another which prefers being fertilized and giving birth.

The melancholia of everything completed!

The refinement of morality increases together with the refinement of fear. Today the fear of disagreeable feelings in other people is almost the strongest of our own disagreeable feelings.

Man demands truth and fulfills this demand in moral intercourse with other men; this is the basis of all social life. One anticipates the unpleasant consequences of reciprocal lying. From this there arises the duty of truth. We permit epic poets to lie because we expect no detrimental consequences in this case. Thus the lie is permitted where it is considered something pleasant. Assuming that it does no harm, the lie is beautiful and charming.