One should have wit, but not wish to have it; otherwise there will be witticism, the Alexandrian style of wit.

There are writers in Germany who drink the Absolute like water; and there are books in which even the dogs make references to the Infinite.

Witty inspirations are the proverbs of the educated.

One mentions many artists who are actually art works of nature.

The main thing is to know something and to say it.

There is no self-knowledge except historical self-knowledge. No one knows what he is if he doesn't know what his contemporaries are.

Just as the Romans were the only nation that was truly a nation, so our age is the first genuine age.