-if christianity were right in its tenets of a vengeful god, general sinfulness, predestination, and the danger of an eternal damnation, it would be a sign of stupidity and lack of character not to become a priest, apostle, or hermit, and with fear and trembling, work exclusively on one's own salvation. it would be nonsensical to lose sight of one's eternal advantage for temporary comfort. assuming that he believes at all, the everyday christian is a pitiful figure, a man who really cannot count up to three, and who besides, precisely because of his mental incompetence, would not deserve such a punishment as christianity promises him.

-life consists of rare, isolated moments of the greatest insignificance, and of innumerably many intervals, during which at the best the silhouettes of those moments hover about us. love, springtime, every beautiful melody, mountains, the moon, the sea -- all these speak completely to the heart but once, if in fact they never do get a chance to speak completely. for many men do not have these moments at all, and are themselves intervals and intermissions in the symphony of real life.

-how is it every execution offends us more than a murder? it is the coldness of the judges, the painful preparations, the understanding that a man is here being used as a means to deter others. for guilt is not being punished, even if there were guilt; guilt lies in the educators, the parents, the environment, in us, not in the murderer -- i am talking about the motivating circumstances.

-when art is dressed in the most threadbare cloth, we recognize it most clearly as art.

-the wittiest of authors raise the very slightest of smiles.

-over the course of history, men learn that iron necessity is neither iron nor necessary.

-we belong to a time in which culture is in danger of being destroyed by the means of culture.

-he who is modest with people shows his arrogance all the more with things (the city, state, epoch, or mankind). that is his revenge.

-the best friend will probably get the best wife, because a good marriage is based on a talent for friendship. (<3)