The flowers of life are but illusions. How many fade away and leave no trace.

He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.

Insofar as he makes use of his healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact scientific instrument possible. The greatest misfortune of modern physics is that its experiments have been set apart from man, as it were, physics refuses to recognize nature in anything not shown by artificial instruments, and even uses this as a measure of its accomplishments.

Once you have missed the first buttonhole, you'll never manage to button up.

A resolution that is communicated is no longer within thy power; thy attentions become now the plaything of chance; he who would have his commands certainly carried out must take man by surprise.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

The true poet is called to take in the splendor of the world and for that reason will always be inclined to praise rather than tofind fault.