He who fears to venture as far as his heart urges and his reason permits, is a coward; he who ventures further than he intended to go, is a slave.

Immortality—dazzling idea! who first imagined thee! Was it some jolly burgher of Nuremburg, who with night-cap on his head, and white clay pipe in mouth, sat on some pleasant summer evening before his door, and reflected in all his comfort, that it would be right pleasant, if, with unextinguishable pipe, and endless breath, he could thus vegetate onwards for a blessed eternity? Or was it a lover, who in the arms of his loved one, thought the immortality-thought, and that because he could think and feel naught beside!—Love! Immortality!

Laughter is wholesome. God is not so dull as some people make out. Did not He make the kitten to chase its tail.

Where words cease, there music begins.

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.

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

Music played at weddings always reminds me of the music played for soldiers before they go into battle.