Moral epochs have their course as well as the seasons. We can no more hold them fast than we can hold sun, moon, and stars. Our faults perpetually return upon us; and herein lies the subtlest difficulty of self-knowledge.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNo man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he rates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own measurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other men; it is life that touches his genuine worth.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWe must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe