“We consider it tedious to talk of the weather, and yet there is nothing more important.”

If you looked busy, you could get away with almost anything.

Imagination is the mightiest despot.

When the foot of the’ mountain is enveloped in mist, the mountain appears to us much loftier than it is; so also when the ground and basis of a disaster is not clear to us.

I have been young and am now old, and have not yet known an untruthful man to come to a good end.

The silver-leaved birch retains in its old age a soft bark; there are some such men.

Liberty is from God; liberties, from the devil.

With hat in hand, one gets on in the world.

The world is the same everywhere.

Discontent is the source of all trouble,but also of all progress, in individuals and nations.

Being alone when one’s belief is firm, is not to be alone.

What will people say-in these words lies the tyranny of the world, the whole destruction of our natural disposition, the oblique vision of our minds. These four words hold sway everywhere.

Years teach us more than books.

Gratitude is a soil on which joy thrives.

If you sound great in the practice room, you’re practicing the wrong thing. Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

All men are selfish, but the vain man is in love with himself. He admires, like the lover his adored one, everything which to others is indifferent.

Of all afflictions, the worst is self contempt.

Trouble can be a lot of fun. It’s the straight and narrow that makes life tedious and boring.

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.