Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it's the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The Skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.

Everything transitory is but an image.

So dear night the half of life is, And the fairest half indeed.

A state of affairs which leads to daily vexation is not the right state.

Several classical sayings that one likes to repeat had quite a different meaning from the ones later times attributed to them.

A leaf that is destined to grow large is full of grooves and wrinkles at the start. Now if one has no patience and wants it smooth offhand like a willow leaf, there is trouble ahead.

As soon as you are in a social setting, you better take away the key to the lock of your heart and pocket it; those who leave thekey in the lock are fools.