Quotes By Jean Paul

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.

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

Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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