Writing history is a method of getting rid of the past.

Everything is hard before it is easy.

A man is really alive only when he delights in the good-will of others.

Tolerance should really only be a passing attitude: it should lead to appreciation. To tolerate is to offend.

The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.

Let him who believes in immortality enjoy his happiness in silence; he has no reason to give himself airs about it.

The finished man, you know, is difficult to please; a growing mind will ever show you gratitude. --Faust 1, lines 182-3