Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be.

The use of a thing is only a part of its significance. To know anything thoroughly, to have the full command of it in all its appliances, we must study it on its own account, independently of any special application.

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.

Voluntary dependence is the wonderful form of existence, and how could that be possible without love?

Gifts come from above in their own peculiar forms.

A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.

No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.