I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better than book or orator.

Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

The thinker makes a great mistake when he asks after cause and effect. They both together make up the indivisible phenomenon.

The solution of every problem is another problem

Those that are firm in their will mold the world to themselves.

There is no patriotic art and no patriotic science

The man who occupies the first place seldom plays the principal part.

Oh God, how do the world and heavens confine themselves, when our hearts tremble in their own barriers!

All our knowledge is symbolic.

I hate all bungling as I do sin, but particularly bungling in politics, which leads to the misery and ruin of many thousands and millions of people

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.

What you feed in yourself that grows.

Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.

Our senses don’t deceive us: our judgment does

One man’s word is no man’s word; we should quietly hear both sides

Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

Individuality seems to be Nature’s whole aim — and she cares nothing for individuals.

If the mass of people hesitate to act, strike with swiftly and with boldness, the brave heart that understands and seizes opportunity can everything.

You are aware of only one unrest;Oh, never to learn the other!Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast,And one is striving to forsake its brother.

I will not be as those who spend the day in complaining of headache, and the night in drinking the wine that gives it

The philosopher must station themselves in the middle.

People who think honestly and deeply have a hostile attitude towards the public.

The eternal in woman draws us on.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.

Everybody wants to get old, but nobody wants to be old

The biggest problem with every art is by the use of appearance to create a loftier reality.

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

A useless life is an early death.

„Bin weder Fräulein, weder schön,kann ungeleitet nach Hause gehn.

If you would create something,you must be something.

Even people who are entirely strange and indifferent to one another will exchange confidences if they live together for a while, and a certain intimacy is bound to develop.

The heights charm us, but the steps do not; with the mountain in our view we love to walk the plains.

Exageras tudo e, por certo, cometes pelo menos o erro de aceitar o suicídio, que é do que estamos falando agora, como se fosse uma grande ação, quando não é nada mais do que simplesmente...

The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don’t understand; no wonder they come to grief.

I have found among my papers a sheet . . . in which I call architecture frozen music.

Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving one’s ego except by love

Whoever, in middle age, attempts to realize the wishes and hopes of his early youth, invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a man’s life has its own fortunes, its own hopes, its own desires.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

It is a mistake for a taciturn, serious-minded woman to marry a jovial man, but not for a serious-minded man to marry a lighthearted woman.

To understand one thing well is better than understanding many things by halves.

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.

To see I was born, To look is my call, To the tower sworn, I delight in all. I glance out far, And see what is near… You blessed eyes, What you saw everywhere,

We can really respect a man only if he doesn’t always look out for himself