In dark ages people are best guided by religion, as in a pitch-black night a blind man is the best guide; he knows the roads and paths better than a man who can see. When daylight comes, however, it is foolish to use blind, old men as guides.

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.

God has given us speech in order that we may say pleasant things to our friends, and tell bitter truths to our enemies.

Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but less by assimilation than by friction.

Whenever books are burned, men also in the end are burned.

Every age thinks its battle the most important of all.

Whether a revolution succeeds or fails people of great hearts will always be sacrificed to it.