To tremble before anticipated evils is to bemoan what thou hast never lost.

The sun had, in the meanwhile, sunk behind the Ettersberg. We felt in the wood the chill of the evening, and drove all the quicker to Wiemar, and to Goethe's house. Goethe urged me to go in with him for a while, and I did so. He was in an extremely engaging mood. He talked a great deal about his theory of colors, and of his obstinate opponents; remarking that he was sure that he had done something in this science.

It is always a sign of an unproductive time when it concerns itself with petty and technical aspects [in philology], and likewiseit is a sign of an unproductive person to pursue such trifles.

Every spoken word arouses our self-will.

Try novelties for salesman's bait, For novelty wins everyone.

The history of knowledge is a great fugue in which the voices of the nations one after the other emerge.

When married one has to get into an argument once in a while since in this way one learns about the other.