Quote collection
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"None are so hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes."
"The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden."
"The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it."
"Talent develops in quiet, alone; character is sharpened in the torrent of the world."
"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at."
"Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes."
"Take life too seriously, and what is it worth? If the morning wake us to no new joys, if the evening bring us not the hope of new pleasure, is it worthwhile to dress and undress?"
"All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green."
"Precaution is better than cure."
"Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one."
"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 is a confused creature; he knows not whence he comes or whither he goes, he knows little of the world, and above all, he knows little of himself."
"The flowers are full of honey, but only the bee finds out the sweetness."
"Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths."
"A great artist... must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state of inner tension is the source of artistic energy."
"What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own."
"Mere curiosity adds wings to every step."
"If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. If we practice and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the wholeworld will be blind and toothless."
"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."
"There is strong shadow where there is much light."
"He who is firm in will molds the world to himself. [Ger., Aber wer fest auf dem Sinne beharrt, der bildet die Welt sich.]"