Quote collection
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"I have, alas! Philosophy, Medicine, Jurisprudence too, And to my cost Theology, With ardent labor, studied through. And here I stand, with all my lore, Poor fool, no wiser than before."
"In art, to express the infinite one should suggest infinitely more than is expressed."
"Architecture is frozen music. [Ger., Die Backunst ist eine erstarrte Musik.]"
"A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is also ignorant of his own language."
"In the colored reflection we have Life."
"Even dirt glitters when the sun is shining upon it"
"A man doesn't learn to understand anything unless he loves it."
"Doesn't surprise me that Christ our Lord preferred to live with whores and sinners, seeing I go in for that myself."
"Begin by instructing yourself, then you will receive instruction from others."
"Quite often, as life goes on, when we feel completely secure as we go on our way, we suddenly notice that we are trapped in error, that we have allowed ourselves to be taken in by individuals, by objects, have dreamt up an affinity with them which immediately vanishes before our waking eye; and yet we cannot tear ourselves away, held fast by some power that seems incomprehensible to us. Sometimes, however, we become fully aware and realize that error as well as truth can move and spur us on to action."
"Gray are all the theories, But green is the tree of life."
"Nothing tells more about the character of a man than the things he makes fun of."
"Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story To-morrow, and the next more dilatory, For indecision brings its own delays, And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute! What you can do, or think you can, begin it! Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; Begin it, and the work will be completed."
"In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine, and the medical student learned enough of them. Now, however, chemistry and botany are become sciences of themselves, incapable of comprehension by a hasty survey, and each demanding the study of a whole life, yet we expect the medical student to understand them. He who is prudent, accordingly declines all distracting claims upon his time, and limits himself to a single branch and becomes expert in one thing."
"Every solution of a problem is a new problem."
"The public wishes itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except what it likes to hear."
"I always seek the good that is in people and leave the bad to Him who made mankind and knows how to round off the corners."
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiation - creation - there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans."
"Reason can never be popular. Passions and feelings may become popular, but reason will always remain the sole property of a few eminent individuals."
"Impotent hatred is the most horrible of all emotions; one should hate nobody whom one cannot destroy."