It is not given to us to grasp the truth, which is identical with the divine, directly. We perceive it only in reflection, in example and symbol, in singular and related appearances. It meets us as a kind of life which is incomprehensible to us, and yet we cannot free ourselves from the desire to comprehend it.

Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good things one possesses at home.

If everyone sweeps before his own front door, then the street is clean.

The best way to understand a painting is by drawing it.

If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.

Everywhere, we learn only from those whom we love.

Must it ever be thus-that the source of our happiness must also be the fountain of our misery? The full and ardent sentiment which animated my heart with the love of nature, overwhelming me with a torrent of delight, and which brought all paradise before me, has now become an insupportable torment, a demon which perpetually pursues and harrasses me.