Gotthold Ephraim Lessing quotes
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781): German writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic. The library holds 63 quotes by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, art, nature, love, faith, freedom
The best-known Gotthold Ephraim Lessing quotes
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Him who trusts everything to every one, we can trust with little.
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If a man knows the right way, he need not trouble himself about wrong paths.
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I have always said it—nature meant to make woman its master-piece.
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If blushing makes ugly people so beautiful, ought it not to make the beautiful still more beautiful?
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Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.
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A poison which does not take immediate effect is therefore none the less a dangerous poison.
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The worst superstition is to consider our own the most tolerable.
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The superstition in which we have grown up does not lose its hold over us even when we recognise it for such. Those who scoff at their fetters are not all free men.
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An artist is only then truly praised by us when we forget him in his work.
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I shall perhaps tremble in my death-hour, but before shall I never.
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It is the mark of a great man to treat trifles as trifles, and important matters as important.
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Borrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending on interest is not much better than stealing.
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If ever a fool’s advice is good, a prudent man must carry it out.
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The contingent facts of history can never become the proof of the truths of reason.
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Let the devil catch you by a hair, and you are his for ever.
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A confessed precipitancy is often more instructive than a coldly considered certainty.
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Blushing makes even the ugly beautiful, and should it not make beauty still more beautiful?
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Only what is common we rarely mistake, and what is rare we with difficulty forget.
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To act with a purpose is what raises man above the brutes; to invent with a purpose, to imitate with a purpose, is that which distinguishes genius from the petty artists who only invent to invent, and imitate to imitate.
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He who enquires into a matter has often found more at a glance than he wished to find.
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Nature meant to make woman her masterpiece, but committed a mistake in the choice of the clay; she took it too fine.
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How can such deep-imprinted images sleep in us at times, till a word, a sound, awake them?
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A poison which acts not at once is not therefore a less dangerous poison.
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He who does not lose his wits over certain matters has none to lose.
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We first truly praise an artist when the merit of his work is such as to make us forget himself.
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A single grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer.
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Too much curiosity is a fault; and out of one fault all vices may spring, when one indulges in it too much.
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Raphael would have been a great painter even if he had come into the world without hands.
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We seldom speak of the virtue we have, but much more frequently of that which we have not.
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The miracles which Christ and His disciples wrought were the scaffolding, not the building. The scaffolding is removed as soon as the building is finished.
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What Nature hides from our gaze, want of sense and feeling drags to the light.
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The worst wild beast is called “Tyrant,” and the “Flatterer” the worst tame one.
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The hatred which is grafted on extinguished friendship must bring forth the most deadly fruits.
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Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel.
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The gift of prayer is not always in our power, but in the eye of Heaven the very wish to pray is prayer.
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First resolutions are not always the wisest, but they are usually the most honest.
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Every man has his own style, just as he has his own nose.
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It is not children merely that are put off with stories.
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Equality (Gleichheit) is always the firmest bond of love.
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Only error is our portion, and illusion our knowledge.
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Man, whence is he? Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance.
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We should not trust the heart too much. The heart speaks to us very gladly, as our mouth expresses itself. If the mouth were as much inclined to speak the feelings of the heart, it would have been the fashion long ago to put a padlock on the mouth.
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To look forward to a pleasure is also a pleasure.
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Some people obtain fame, and others deserve it.
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We must not wish to appear richer than we are.
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God be praised, we have still the original.
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They are not all free who scorn their chains.
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Oh, a ruler has no friend, and can have none.
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A man is ever dearer to man than an angel.
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Ha! let the devil seize thee by a hair, and thou art his for ever.
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“Name to me an animal, though never so skillful, that I cannot imitate!” So bragged the ape to the fox. But the fox replied, “And do thou name to me an animal so humble as to think of imitating thee.”
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Men are not always what they seem to be.
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My God, give me neither poverty nor riches; but whatsoever it may be Thy will to give, give me with it a heart which knows humbly to acquiesce in what is Thy will.
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Resist as much as thou wilt; heaven’s ways are heaven’s ways.
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What is a hero without love for man?
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A rose broken ere the storm stripped its petals.
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Equality is the firmest bond of love.
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The good man needs always large room.
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Not so honest were more honest.
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Let it content thee that thou art a man.