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
self virtue stills
If self-knowledge is the road to virtue, so is virtue still more the road to self-knowledge.
selfish men unjust
It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous.
thinking self facts
One can ask why the I has to appear in the cogito {Descartes’ argument “I think therefore I am.}, since the cogito, if used rightly, is the awareness of pure consciousness, not directed at any fact or action. In fact the I is not necessary here, since it is never united directly to consciousness. One can even imagine a pure and self-aware consciousness which thinks of itself as impersonal spontaneity.
mean self dry
That’s what existence means: draining one’s own self dry without the sense of thirst.
selfish knives people
Nothing will make me change my principles. Even with the knife at my neck I shall still declare, up to this day, the poor have done everything; it is time for the rich to take their turn... The selfish people, the young idlers, must be made useful, whether they like it or not, and some respite be procured for the useful and respectable worker.
dancing develop exercise exercises muscles powers single
Other exercises develop single powers and muscles, but dancing embellishes, exercises, and equalizes all the muscles at once.
body brevity soul
Brevity is the body and soul of wit.
action good ordinary
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.
cares die difficult former latter sorrow throw
Cares are often more difficult to throw off than sorrows; the latter die with time, the former grow.
gathered idleness miseries
Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name.
laughs laughter profoundly sad
No one is more profoundly sad as one who laughs too much.
clearer escaped hourglass wisdom
The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
ennoble good sons
Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds.
age age-and-aging matter
Age does not matter if the matter does not age.