There are souls which fall from heaven like flowers, but ere they bloom are crushed under the foul tread of some brutal hoof.
Jean Paul

There is a joy in sorrow which none but a mourner can know.
Jean Paul

Two aged men, that had been foes for life, Met by a grave, and wept - and in those tears They washed away the memory of their strife; Then wept again the loss of all those years.
Jean Paul

Variety of mere nothings gives more pleasure than uniformity of something.
Jean Paul

We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.
Jean Paul

Weaklings must lie.
Jean Paul

What makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease.
Jean Paul

Whenever, at a party, I have been in the mood to study fools, I have always looked for a great beauty: they always gather round her like flies around a fruit stall.
Jean Paul

Woman and men of retiring timidity are cowardly only in dangers which affect themselves, but the first to rescue when others are in danger.
Jean Paul

You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth.
Jean Paul