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Favourite quotes (21448)

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Perlen bedeuten Tränen. Emilia Galotti http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/7mlgl10.txt (1772), Act II, scene VIII

“Precisely the way on which the species reaches its perfection, every individual human being (one earlier, one later) must have traversed, too.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Eben die Bahn, aus welcher das Geschlecht zu seiner Vollkommenheit gelangt, muß jeder einzelne Mensch (der früher, der später) erst durchlaufen haben.
The Education of Mankind, § 93

“Better counsel comes overnight.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing book Emilia Galotti

Besserer Rat kommt über Nacht.
Emilia Galotti (1772), Act IV, scene III

“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln. Hamburgische Dramaturgie http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10055/10055-8.txt (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767

“It is infinitely difficult to know when and where one should stop, and for all but one in thousands the goal of their thinking is the point at which they have become tired of thinking.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Es ist unendlich schwer, zu wissen, wenn und wo man bleiben soll, und Tausenden für einen ist das Ziel ihres Nachdenkens die Stelle, wo sie des Nachdenkens müde geworden.
Letter to Moses Mendelssohn, January 9, 1771

“The worst of superstitions is to think
One's own most bearable.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Nathan the Wise (1779), Act IV, scene II http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/natws10.txt Variant translation: The worst superstition is to consider our own tolerable.

“I, who ne'er
Went for myself a begging, go a borrowing,
And that for others. Borrowing's much the same
As begging; just as lending upon usury
Is much the same as thieving.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Nathan the Wise http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/natws10.txt (1779), Act II, scene II

“Man, whence is he?
Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Der Mensch, wo ist er her?
Zu schlecht für einen Gott, zu gut fürs Ungefähr.
As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 61
Variant: Man — who is he? Too bad to be the work of God; Too good for the work of chance!

“To look forward to pleasure is also a pleasure.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Und ein Vergnügen erwarten, ist auch ein Vergnügen. Minna von Barnhelm https://books.google.it/books?id=3XIHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q&f=false (1763), , Act IV, scene VI

“What is a hero without love for mankind?”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Was ist ein Held ohne Menschenliebe? Philotas http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8phts10.txt (1759), Act 1, Scene 7

“Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 499

“If some things don't make you lose your sense of reason, then you have none to lose.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

“Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Misattributed

“The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

Anti-Goeze (1778), as quoted in God Is Not Great (2007), by Christopher Hitchens , Ch. 19
Context: The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say: Father, I will take this one—the pure Truth is for You alone.

“Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

“For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic

“We must stop thinking primarily in terms of “money” and “business””

H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author

both artificial things—and begin to think increasingly in terms of the actual resources and products on which “money” and “business” are based. In terms of these, of the human beings to whom they are to be distributed, and of the cognate human values which make the accidents of life and consciousness worth enduring.

"Some Repetitions on the Times", (1933). Reprinted in Miscellaneous Writings, edited by S.T. Joshi. Arkham House, 1995.
Non-Fiction

“Disintegration is quite painless, I assure you.”

H.P. Lovecraft book From Beyond

"From Beyond"
Fiction

“I used to be a hide-bound Tory simply for traditional and antiquarian reasons—and because I had never done any real thinking on civics and industry and the future. The depression—and its concomitant publicisation of industrial, financial, and governmental problems—jolted me out of my lethargy and led me to reëxamine the facts of history in the light of unsentimental scientific analysis; and it was not long before I realised what an ass I had been. The liberals at whom I used to laugh were the ones who were right—for they were living in the present while I had been living in the past. They had been using science while I had been using romantic antiquarianism. At last I began to recognise something of the way in which capitalism works—always piling up concentrated wealth and impoverishing the bulk of the population until the strain becomes so intolerable as to force artificial reform.”

H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author

Letter to Jennie K. Plaiser (8 July 1936), quoted in "H.P. Lovecraft, a Life" by S.T. Joshi, p. 564
Non-Fiction, Letters