Nothing is so hard to bear as a train of happy days.
An angel! Nonsense! Everybody so describes his mistress; and yet I find it impossible to tell you how perfect she is, or why she is so perfect: suffice it to say she has captivated all my senses.
It is better to be deceived by one's friends than to deceive them.
A useless life is an early death.
To speak the truth, as truth to me appeared, Caused noisy protests, I was hooted down. Such unpleasant incidents occurred That I ran off so as to be alone, Into the wilds. Utterly forsaken, I took at last the Devil for companion.
Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.
To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.
It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.
Let this little book be thy friend, if, owing to fortune or through thine own fault, thou canst not find a dearer companion.
The right man is the one who seizes the moment.
God save you, my brethren, with all your -isms and schisms! I am a citizen of the world, and a man of Weimer. I have established myself by culture in this choice society; and if anyone knows a better place, let him go to it.
They should be ashamed of themselves, all these sober people!
For many people, one of the most frustrating aspects of life is not being able to understand other people's behavior.
The little that is completed, vanishes from the sight of one who looks forward to what is still to do.
Ah, God! but Art is long, And Life, alas! is fleeting.
O welcome, twilight soft and sweet, That breathes throughout this hallowed shrine! Sweet pain of love, bind thou with fetters fleet The heart that on the dew of hope must pine!
I'm fairly fond of boys, but my preference is for girls; When I have enough of a girl, she serves me still as a boy.
Literature decays only as men become more and more corrupt.
We can really respect a man only if he doesn't always look out for himself.
I treat my little heart like a sick child: whatever it wishes for is granted.
The society of women is the element of good manners.
Art is long life short judgment difficult opportunity transient.
The best part of such noble liquor, No less than gold and jewelry, By preference dwells in night and gloom. The wise man searches tirelessly; 5200 To see by daylight, that's child's play, But where it's dark, there mysteries have their home.
Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things; and, once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him who would endeavour to efface them.
If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.
Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days. Whatever you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.
The lion's fierceness, Mild hart's swiftness, Italian fieriness, Northern steadiness.
Hast thou, then, nothing more to mention? Com'st ever, thus, with ill intention? Find'st nothing right on earth, eternally? MEPHISTOPHELES No, Lord! I find things, there, still bad as they can be. Man's misery even to pity moves my nature; I've scarce the heart to plague the wretched creature.
He who moves not forward, goes backward.
Nature goes her own way and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
We should deal with children as God does with us, who makes us happiest when He lets us stagger in benevolent delusion.
That which disturbs your soul, you must not suffer.
Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.
Every day we hear a little melody,reading a beautiful poem, see a fine painting and,If possible, say the words.
I prefer an injurious truth to a useful error. Truth heals any pain it may inflict on us.
The rich want good wine, the poor, plenty of wine.
What I possess, I see far distant lying, And what I lost, grows real and undying.
But I've got you, you're caught! For a half-hellhound like you are, Solomon's Key is what is called for.
Character develops itself in the stream of life.
I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.
I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it. Others do just the same with their time.
We are all pilgrims who seek Italy.
Mastery passes often for egotism.
The wild desires no longer win us, The deeds of passion cease to chain; The love of Man revives within us, The love of God revives again.
There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From its springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.
It is the most foolish of all errors for young people of good intelligence to imagine that they will forfeit their originality if they acknowledge truth already acknowledged by others.
