Jean Paul Quotes

“The miracle on earth are the laws of heaven.”

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

“Every man has a rainy corner of his life whence comes foul weather which follows him.”

— Jean Paul

“For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted.”

— Jean Paul

Sorrows are like thunderclouds, in the distance they look black, over our heads scarcely gray.

— Jean Paul

“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.”

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

“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.”

— Jean Paul

“Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality.”

— Jean Paul

“There are souls which fall from heaven like flowers, but ere they bloom are crushed under the foul tread of some brutal hoof.”

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

“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.”

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

“Two aged men, that had been foes for life, Met by a grave, and wept - and in those tears They washed away the memory of their strife; Then wept again the loss of all those years.”

— Jean Paul

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

— Jean Paul

“The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to be beyond our sight, but they are always looking down upon us.”

— Jean Paul

“Each departed friend is a magnet that attracts us to the next world.”

— Jean Paul

“What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.”

— Jean Paul

“Humankind's chief fault is that they have so many small ones.”

— Jean Paul

Without God there is for mankind no purpose, no goal, no hope, only a wavering future, an eternal dread of every darkness.

— Jean Paul

“With so many thousand joys, is it not black ingratitude to call the world a place of sorrow and torment?”

— Jean Paul

“The burden of suffering seems a tombstone hung about our necks, while in reality it is only the weight which is necessary to keep down the diver while he is hunting for pearls.”

— Jean Paul

“Laughing cheerfulness throws the light of day on all the paths of life.”

— Jean Paul

“If self-knowledge is the road to virtue, so is virtue still more the road to self-knowledge.”

— Jean Paul

“It has been jestingly said that the works of John Paul Richter are almost unintelligible to any but the Germans, and even to some of them. A worthy German, just before Richter's death, edited a complete edition of his works, in which one particular passage fairly puzzled him. Determined to have it explained at the source, he went to John Paul himself. The author's reply was very characteristic: "My good friend, when I wrote that passage, God and I knew what it meant; it is possible that God knows it still; but as for me, I have totally forgotten."”

— Jean Paul

“Universal love is a glove without fingers, which fits all bands alike and none closely; but true affection is like a glove with fingers, which fits one hand only, and sits close to that one.”

— Jean Paul

“It is easier and handier for men to flattery than to praise.”

— Jean Paul

“The happiness of life consists, like the day, not in single flashes (of light), but in one continuous mild serenity. The most beautiful period of the heart's existence is in this calm equable light, even although it be only moonshine or twilight. Now the mind alone can obtain for us this heavenly cheerfulness and peace.”

— Jean Paul

“The end we aim at must be known, before the way can be made.”

— Jean Paul

“The look of a king is itself a deed.”

— Jean Paul

“A variety of nothing is superior to a monotony of something.”

— Jean Paul

“No heroine can create a hero through love of one, but she can give birth to one”

— Jean Paul

“There are so many tender and holy emotions flying about in our inward world, which, like angels, can never assume the body of an outward act; so many rich and lovely flowers spring up which bear no seed, that it is a happiness poetry was invented, which receives into its limbs all these incorporeal spirits, and the perfume of all these flowers.”

— Jean Paul

“Individuality is to be preserved and respected everywhere, as the root of everything good.”

— Jean Paul

“Memory, wit, fancy, acuteness, cannot grow young again in old age, but the heart can.”

— Jean Paul

“The purer the golden vessel, the more readily is it bent; the higher worth of woman is sooner lost than that of man.”

— Jean Paul

“See, indeed, that your daughter is thoroughly grounded and experienced in household duties; but take care, through religion and poetry, to keep her heart open to heaven.”

— Jean Paul

“Feelings of man are always pure and the brightest to the meeting time and Farewell.”

— Jean Paul

“Repetition is the mother of education.”

— Jean Paul

“What Cicero said of men-that they are like wines, age souring the bad, and bettering the good-we can say of misfortune, that it has the same effect upon them.”

— Jean Paul

“The German language is the organ among the languages.”

— Jean Paul

“A sky full of silent suns.”

— Jean Paul

“People will not bear it when advice is violently given, even if it is well founded. Hearts are flowers; they remain open to the softly falling dew, but shut up in the violent downpour of rain.”

— Jean Paul

“The Infinate has sowed His name in the heavens in burning stars, but on earth He has sowed His name in tender flowers.”

— Jean Paul

“Like the greatest virtue and the worst dogs, the fiercest hatred is silent.”

— Jean Paul

“As a man grows older it is harder and harder to frighten him.”

— Jean Paul

“A loving maiden grows unconsciously more bold.”

— Jean Paul

“Only deeds give strength to life, only moderation gives it charm.”

— Jean Paul

“How narrow our souls become when absorbed in any present good or ill! It is only the thought of the future that makes them great.”

— Jean Paul