As the ancient commander addressed his soldiers before battle, so should the moralist speak to men in the struggle of the era.

Even a friendly conversation which cannot be at any given moment be broken off voluntarily with complete arbitrariness has something illiberal about it. An artist, however, who is able and wants to express himself completely, who keeps nothing to himself and would wish to say everything he knows, is very much to be pitied.

The poetry of this one is called philosophical, of that one philological, of a third rhetorical, and so on. Which is then the poetic poetry?

Novels tend to end as the Paternoster begins: with the kingdom of God on earth.

Aphorisms are the true form of the universal philosophy.

The highest good and solely useful is liberal education.

The difference between religion and morality lies simply in the classical division of things into the divine and the human, if one only interprets this correctly.