Quotes By Jean Paul

Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life.

As winter strips the leaves from around us, so that we may see the distant regions they formerly concealed, so old age takes away our enjoyments only to enlarge the prospect of the coming eternity.

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes anothers.

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.

The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and evil are the result of the moral atmosphere they breathe.

Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them.

Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality.

Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds.

Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in bearing it.

Never write on a subject until you have read yourself full of it.

Woman and men of retiring timidity are cowardly only in dangers which affect themselves, but the first to rescue when others are in danger.

Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.

God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul.

Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it charm.

The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering galleries, they are clearly heard at the end, and by posterity.

Age does not matter if the matter does not age.

Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.

We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.

Be great in act, as you have been in thought.

Beauty attracts us men; but if, like an armed magnet it is pointed, beside, with gold and silver, it attracts with tenfold power.

The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying.

There is a joy in sorrow which none but a mourner can know.

Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.

What makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease.

Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life.

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.

I have made as much out of myself as could be made of the stuff, and no man should require more.

Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.

Whenever, at a party, I have been in the mood to study fools, I have always looked for a great beauty: they always gather round her like flies around a fruit stall.