Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain.
Friedrich Schiller
The strong man is strongest when alone.
Keep true to the dreams of your youth.
Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.
Happy he who learns to bear what he cannot change.
Disappointments are to the soul what a thunderstorm is to the air.
Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.
Art is the daughter of freedom.
Lose not yourself in a far off time, seize the moment that is thine.
The rich become richer and the poor become poorer is a cry heard throughout the whole civilized world.
Art is the right hand of Nature. The latter has only given us being, the former has made us men.
He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
Dare to err and to dream. Deep meaning often lies in childish plays.
Mankind is made great or little by its own will.
Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.
The jest loses its point when he who makes it is the first to laugh.
Honesty prospers in every condition of life.
Great souls suffer in silence.
The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.
There is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
That which is so universal as death must be a benefit.
Appearance rules the world.
It is criminal to steal a purse, daring to steal a fortune, a mark of greatness to steal a crown. The blame diminishes as the guilt increases.
Votes should be weighed not counted.
With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
There is room in the smallest cottage for a happy loving pair.
The will of man is his happiness.
Every true genius is bound to be naive.
Peace is rarely denied to the peaceful.
A gloomy guest fits not a wedding feast.
To gain a crown by fighting is great, to reject it divine.
Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.
Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.
He who considers too much will perform little.
Revenge is barren of itself: it is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its end is despair.
The universe is one of God's thoughts.
Live with your century; but do not be its creature.
Power is the most persuasive rhetoric.
No doubt the artist is the child of his time; but woe to him if he is also its disciple, or even its favorite.
Nothing leads to good that is not natural.
Freedom can occur only through education.
The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error.
They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom.
Aesthetic matters are fundamental for the harmonious development of both society and the individual.
Opposition always inflames the enthusiast, never converts him.
To save all we must risk all.
Not without a shudder may the human hand reach into the mysterious urn of destiny.
Will it, and set to work briskly.
Of all the possessions of this life fame is the noblest; when the body has sunk into the dust the great name still lives.