Desire is the presentiment of our inner abilities, and the forerunner of our ultimate accomplishments.

To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.

Wild dreams torment me as I lie. And though a god lives in my heart, though all my power waken at his word, though he can move my every inmost part - yet nothing in the outer world is stirred. thus by existence tortured and oppressed I crave for death, I long for rest.

All one needs to do is declare oneself free and one will immediately feel dependent. If you dare to declare yourself dependent, you feel independent.

Music, in the best sense, does not require novelty; nay, the older it is, and the more we are accustomed to it, the greater its effect.

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen.He who is ignorant of foreign languages, knows not his own.

We amuse ourselves painting our prison-walls with bright figures and brilliant landscapes.