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
death sleep giving
Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality.
heart perfection soul
The last, best fruit which comes to late perfection, even in the kindliest soul, is tenderness toward the hard, forbearance toward the unforbearing, warmth of heart toward the cold, philanthropy toward the misanthropic.
reality past two
Fancy rules over two thirds of the universe, the past, and future, while reality is confined to the present
tombstone reality hunting
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.
teacher character mean
In later life, as in earlier, only a few persons influence the formation of our character; the multitude pass us by like a distant army. One friend, one teacher, one beloved, one club, one dining table, one work table are the means by which one's nation and the spirit of one's nation affect the individual.
stars heart space
The heart needs not for its heaven much space, nor many stars therein, if only the star of love has arisen.
fog air infidelity
I would rather dwell in the dim fog of superstition than in air rarefied to nothing by the air-pump of unbelief-in which the panting breast expires, vainly and convulsively gasping for breath.
friendship good-friend determined
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."
love-is hands band
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.
self virtue stills
If self-knowledge is the road to virtue, so is virtue still more the road to self-knowledge.
boredom scholar knows
A scholar knows no boredom.
gratitude joy sorrow
With so many thousand joys, is it not black ingratitude to call the world a place of sorrow and torment?
education light individual
Education should bring to light the ideal of the individual.
future soul ill
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.