Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.
Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.
What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muß auch anwenden; es ist nicht genug, zu wollen, man muß auch tun.
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.
If you’ve never eaten while crying you don t know what life tastes like.
Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.
Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.
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.
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.
As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
I have so much in me, and the feeling for her absorbs it all; I have so much, and without her it all comes to nothing.
Science arose from poetry… when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.
If ever I to the moment shall say:Beautiful moment, do not pass away!Then you may forge your chains to bind me,Then I will put my life behind me,Then let them hear my death-knell toll,Then from your labours you’ll be free,The clock may stop, the clock-hands fall,And time come to an end for me!
He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.
Insofar as he makes use of his healthy senses, man himself is the best and most exact scientific instrument possible. The greatest misfortune of modern physics is that its experiments have been set apart from man, as it were, physics refuses to recognize nature in anything not shown by artificial instruments, and even uses this as a measure of its accomplishments.
No one has ever properly understood me, I have never fully understood anyone; and no one understands anyone else
Ohne Hast, aber ohne Rast. – Without haste, but without rest.
What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?
At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.
Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.
If the whole world I once could seeOn free soil stand, with the people freeThen to the moment might I say,Linger awhile. . .so fair thou art.
It’s true that nothing in this world makes us so necessary to others as the affection we have for them.
The credit of advancing science has always been due to individuals and never to the age.
Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Wild dreams torment me as I lie. And though a god lives in my heart, though all my power waken at his word, though he can move my every inmost part – yet nothing in the outer world is stirred. thus by existence tortured and oppressed I crave for death, I long for rest.