Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they translate into their own language and forthwith it is something entirely different

I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken...

Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not

Genius develops in quiet places, character out in the full current of human life

Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves than with others

A useless life is an early death

He alone deserves liberty and life who daily must win them anew

The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.

He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.

I myself must also say I believe it is true that in the end humanitarianism will triumph; only I fear that at the same time the world will be one big hospital and each person...

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,because the mass man will mock it right away.I praise what is truly alive,what longs to be burned to death.In the calm water of the love-nights,where you were...

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out...

When scholars study a thing, they striveTo kill it first, if its alive;Then they have the parts and they’ve lost the wholeFor the link that’s missing was the living soul.

The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself.

There dwells a life in every star;With brother spheres it rolls afarIts self-elected, radiant way.Still throb within the great earth-ballThe forces which conduct us allFrom day to night, from night to day. – – –...

Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.

Doubt grows with knowledge.

Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in...

How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflection? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then you shall know what is in thee.

We will burn that bridge when we come to it.

You accuse a woman of wavering affections, but don’t blame her; she is just looking for a consistent man.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid...

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.

What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.

To tremble before anticipated evils is to bemoan what thou hast never lost.

Out of moderation a pure happiness springs.

If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.

Nature has neither kernel nor shell; she is everything at once

Men are much more apt to agree in what they do than in what they think.

He who has art and science also has religion, but those who do not have them better have religion

If a man writes a book, let him set down only what he knows. I have guesses enough of my own.

More light!

All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.

The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become.

Beauty is a primeval phenomenon. It never makes an appearance itself, but is a visible reflection in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind. It is as various as nature herself.

O, het is met de verte als met de toekomst! Een wijd, schemerachtig vergezicht ligt voor ons, onze ziel en onze ogen drinken het in, en wij haken ernaar ons er helemaal aan over te...

if only these treasures were not so fragile as they are precious and beautiful.

When I say to the Moment flying;’Linger a while — thou art so fair!’Then bind me in thy bonds undying,And my final ruin I will bear!

It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage.

In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.

The older we get the more we must limit ourselves if we wish to be active.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Look closely at those who patronize you. Half are unfeeling, half untaught.

Man… knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfactions instruct him concerning himself, teach him what to seek and what to avoid. For the rest, man...

A vain man can never be utterly ruthless: he wants to win applause and therefore he accommodates himself to others

A person can stand almost anything except a succession of ordinary days.

When I err every one can see it, but not when I lie

Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be.”