"Classicism is health, romanticisim is sickness."

"The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden."

"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."

"Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image."

"Think of you! I do not think of you, you are always before my soul."

"If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own."

"All force strives forward to work far and wideTo live and grow and ever to expand;Yet we are checked and thwarted on each sideBy the world's flux and swept along like sand:In this internal storm and outward tideWe hear a promise, hard to understand:From the compulsion that all creatures binds,Who overcomes himself, his freedom finds."

"Who are you then?" "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good."

"Which government is the best? The one that teaches us to govern ourselves."

"God knows I often retire to my bed wishing (at times even hoping) that I might never wake up; and in the morning I open my eyes, see the sun once again, and am miserable."

"The Church has an excellent appetite. She has swallowed whole countries and the questionHas never risen of indigestion. Only the Church . . . can take Ill-gotten goods without stomach-ache!"

"This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew."

"The things I know, every man can know, but, oh, my heart is mine alone!"

"I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should."

"No one has ever properly understood me, I have never fully understood anyone; and no one understands anyone else."

"Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture."

"Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid."

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."

"Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth."

"My father, my father, and dost thou not hearThe words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?'Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."

"If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy."

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

"Every spoken word arouses our self-will."

"Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting."

"There is no higher or purer pleasure than to sit with closed eyes and hear a naturally expressive voice recite... a play of Shakespeare's."

"A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them."

"A mans manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait."

"There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at."

"The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes."

"I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me."

"Nothing is worth more than this day."

"Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean."

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

"Mastery passes often for egotism."

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game."

"There occurs the beautiful feeling that only humanity together is the true human being, and that the individual can be cheerful and happy only if he has the courage to feel himself in the Whole."

"The formation of one's character ought to be everyone's chief aim."

"One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste."

"Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and -- if at all possible -- speak a few sensible words."

"A dim vastness is spread before our souls; the perceptions of our mind are as obscure as those of our vision... But alas! when we have attained our object, when the distant 'there' becomes the present 'here,' all is changed; we are as poor and circumscribed as ever, and our souls still languish for unattainable happiness."

"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires: beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go."

"Nothing is more highly to be prized than the value of each day."

"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 will be the other person's humane keeper."

"Grant me one hour on love's most sacred shoresTo clasp the bosom that my soul adores,Lie heart to heart and merge my soul with yours."

"I am not omniscient, but I know a lot."

"To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants."

"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."

"Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us mastery over ourselves is destructive."

"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."

"Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity."