Jean Paul
Jean Paul
Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth21 March 1763
CountryGermany
certain anguish
It is certain that we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish.
philosophical men
Man is condemned to be free
believe passion men
[M]an is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, in other respect is free; because, once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. The Existentialist does not believe in the power of passion. He will never agree that a sweeping passion is a ravaging torrent which fatally leads a man to certain acts and is therefore an excuse. He thinks that man is responsible for his passion.
shapes forget my-thoughts
Through the lack of attaching myself to words, my thoughts remain nebulous most of the time. They sketch vague, pleasant shapes and then are swallowed up; I forget them almost immediately.
smoking knows
I don't know. Everything. Living. Smoking.
thinking my-thoughts
My thought is me: that is why I cannot stop thinking. I exist because I think I cannot keep from thinking.
human-nature introspection
Introspection is always retrospection
humility institutions refuse
A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution.
tree together criticism
Criticism often takes from the tree caterpillars and blossoms together.
boredom long soul
Good digestions, the gray monotony of provincial life, and the boredom-ah the soul-destroying boredom-of long days of mild content.
life world labor
What never vary are the necessities of being in the world, of having to labor and to die there.
hands ideas creating
I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God.
dream blow want
The revolution you dream of is not ours. You don't want to change the world; you want to blow it up.
philosophical umpires issues
What do I care about Jupiter? Justice is a human issue, and I do not need a god to teach it to me.