The butterfly long loved the beautiful rose, And flirted around all day; While round him in turn with her golden caress, Soft fluttered the sun's warm ray.... I know not with whom the rose was in love, But I know that I loved them all. The butterfly, rose, and the sun's bright ray, The star and the bird's sweet call.

I will not say that women have no character; rather, they have a new one every day.

I consider it a degradation and a stain on my honor to submit to baptism in order to qualify myself for state employment in Prussia.

Sweet May lies fresh before us, To life the young flowers leap, And through the Heaven's blue o'er us The rosy cloudlets sweep.

He only profits from praise who values criticism.

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

Human misery is too great for men to die without faith.