Das war ein vorspeil nur; That was only a prelude; dort wo man Buecher verbrennt, Where one burns books, vebrennt man auch am Ende One will also burn people Menchen. Eventually.

Every period of time is a sphinx that throws itself into the abyss as soon as its riddle has been solved.

Lyrical poetry is much the same an every age, as the songs of the nightingales in every spring-time.

Atheism is the last word of theism

The foolish race of mankind are swarming below in the night; they shriek and rage and quarrel - and all of them are right.

We know only that our entire existence is forced into new paths and disrupted, that new circumstances, new joys and new sorrows await us, and that the unknown has its uncanny attractions, alluring and at the same time anguishing.

Nothing is sillier than this charge of plagiarism. There is no sixth commandment in art. The poet dare help himself wherever he lists, wherever he finds material suited to his work. He may even appropriate entire columns with their carved capitals, if the temple he thus supports be a beautiful one. Goethe understood this very well, and so did Shakespeare before him.