Jean Paul (1763 – 1825)
Influential German novelist and short-story writer.
Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it a charm.
No one is so much alone in the universe as a denier of God. With an orphaned heart, which has lost the greatest of fathers, he stands mourning by the immeasurable corpse of nature, no longer moved and sustained by the Spirit of the universe.
The virtues, like the body,become strong more by labor than by nourishment.
When in your last hour (think of this) all faculty in the broken spirit shall fade away, and sink into inanity — imagination, thought, effort, enjoyment — then will the flower of belief, which blossoms even in the night, remain to refresh you with its fragrance in the last darkness.
The last, best fruit that comes to perfection, even in the kindliest soul, is tenderness toward the hard; forbearance toward the unforbearing; warmth of heart toward the cold; and philanthropy toward the misanthropic.
Suffering is my gain; I bow
To my Heavenly Father's will,
And receive it hushed and still;
Suffering is my worship now.
The life of Christ concerns Him who, being the holiest among the mighty, and the mightiest among the holy, lifted with His pierced hand empires off their hinges, and turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs the ages.
Has it never occurred to us, when surrounded by sorrows, that they may be sent to us only for our instruction, as we darken the cages of birds when we wish to teach them to sing?
The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy.
Music is the moonlight in the gloomy night of life.
Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in life.
A timid person is frightened before a danger, a coward during the time, and a courageous person afterward.
Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
The wish falls often warm upon my heart that I may learn nothing here that I cannot continue in the other world; that I may do nothing here but deeds that will bear fruit in heaven.
The German language is the organ among the languages. (Die deutsche Sprache ist die Orgel unter den Sprachen.)
The miracles of earth are the laws of heaven.
What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.
How calmly may we commit ourselves to the hands of Him who bears up the world!
Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.
Lift thyself up, look. around, and see something higher and brighter than earth, earthworms, and earthly darkness.