Aphorists

"Künstler, was du nicht schaffen mußt, das darfst du nicht schaffen wollen."

"Wenn es einen Glauben gibt, der Berge versetzen kann, so ist es der Glaube an die eigene Kraft."

"We are so vain that we value the opinion even of those whose opinions we find worthless."

"Der Gescheitere gibt nach! Ein unsterbliches Wort. Es begründet die Weltherrschaft der Dummheit."

"Raison annehmen kann niemand, der nicht schon welche hat."

"Wenn man nur die Alten liest, ist man sicher, immer neu zu bleiben."

"Die jetzigen Menschen sind zum tadeln geboren. Vom ganzen Achilles sehen sie nur die Ferse."

"Wenn der Kunst kein Tempel mehr offen steht, dann flüchtet sie in die Werkstatt."

"Die glücklichen Pessimisten! Welche Freude empfinden sie, so oft sie bewiesen haben, daß es keine Freude gibt."

"Die einfachste und bekannteste Wahrheit erscheint uns augenblicklich neu und wunderbar, sobald wir sie zum ersten Mal an uns selbst erleben."

"Man muss das Gute tun, damit es in der Welt sei."

"Wir sollen immer verzeihen, dem Reuigen um seinetwillen, dem Reuelosen um unseretwillen."

"Der Verstandesmensch verhöhnt nichts so bitter als den Edelmut, dessen er sich nicht fähig fühlt."

"“Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived.” It is a pity that this is still the only knowledge of their wives at which some men seem to arrive."

"The deadliest foe to virtue would be complete self-knowledge."

"The man who has ceased to fear has ceased to care."

"The force of the blow depends on the resistance. It is sometimes better not to struggle against temptation. Either fly or yield at once."

"The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness."

"One said of suicide, “As long as one has brains one should not blow them out.” And another answered, “But when one has ceased to have them, too often one cannot.”"

"There are those who so dislike the nude that they find something indecent in the naked truth."

"There are persons who, when they cease to shock us, cease to interest us."

"True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would be willing to repeat."

"It is by a wise economy of nature that those who suffer without change, and whom no one can help, become uninteresting. Yet so it may happen that those who need sympathy the most often attract it the least."

"Eclecticism. Every truth is so true that any truth must be false."

"I will begin with the self-styled "Christian" party, who profess to base their morality on the New Testament. But whether it is really more Christian to follow or to ignore the teachings of the Gospels I shall not discuss."

"The one self-knowledge worth having is to know one’s own mind."

"We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings."

"Of Optimism I have said that "The world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil.""

"Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct."

"The man whose nature is such that by one path alone his chief desire will reach consummation will try to find it on that path, whatever it may be, and whatever the world thinks of it; and if he does not, he is contemptible."

"Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart’s blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink."

"6495. An Ounce of Wit that's bought, Is worth a Pound that's taught."

"6493. A light Purse Is a heavy Curse."

"6360. Without Pains, No Gains."

"6335. Graft good Fruit all, Or graft not at all."

"6372. All Work, and no Play, Makes Jack a dull boy."

"6319. Little Stroaks Fell great Oaks."

"6318. Many a Little Make a Mickle."

"6320. Man proposes ; God disposes."

"6384. He that would please all, and himself too, Undertakes what none could ever do."

"6294. Well begun Is half done."

"6295. Birds of a Feather Flock together."

"6401. The Love of a Woman, and a Bottle of Wine, Are sweet for a Season; but last a short Time."

"6303. He that speaks the Thing he should not, Shall hear the Thing he would not."

"6472. Nothing more smooth than Glass, yet nothing more brittle ; Nothing more fine than Wit, yet nothing more fickle."

"4380. That which is one Man’s Meat, is another Man’s Poison."

"4384. That, which proves too much, proves nothing."

"4374. That War only is just, which is necessary."

"4368. That Patient is not like to recover, that makes the Doctor his Heir."

"4369. That penny's well spent, that saves a Groat."