Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors are always those of man.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhat a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it!
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheIll-humor is nothing more than an inward feeling of our own want of merit, a dissatisfaction with ourselves which is always united with an envy that foolish vanity excites.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMan... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe