“Novels arise out of the shortcoings of history.”

“Man has his being in truth--if he sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself. Whoever betrays truth betrays himself. It is not a question of lying--but of acting against one's conviction.”

“Doing philosophy is only a threefold or double kind of waking--being awake--consciousness.”

“Genius in general is poetic. Where genius has been active it has been poetically active. The truly moral person is a poet.”

“Many books are longer than they seem. They have indeed no end. The boredom that they cause is truly absolute and infinite.”

“The more narrow-minded a system is the more it will please worldly-wise people. Thus the system of the materialists, the doctrine of Helvetius and also Locke has recieved the most acclaim amongst his class. Thus Kant even now will find more followers than Fichte.”

“The true reader must be an extension of the author. He is the higher court that receives the case already prepared by the lower court. The feeling by means of which the author has separated out the materials of his work, during reading separates out again the unformed and the formed aspects of the book—and if the reader were to work through the book according to his own idea, a second reader would refine it still more, with the result that, since the mass that had been worked through would constantly be poured into fresh vessels, the mass would finally become an essential component—a part of the active spirit.Through impartial rereading of his book the author can refine his book himself. With strangers the particular character is usually lost, because the talent of fully entering into another person’s idea is so rare. Often even in the author himself. It is not a sign of superior education and greater powers to justifiably find fault with a book. When receiving new impressions, greater sharpness of mind is quite natural.”

“Humanity is the higher meaning of our planet, the nerve that connects this part of it with the upper world, the eye it raises to heaven. ”

“Humanity is a comic role. ”

“The artist stands on the human being as a statue does on a pedestal. ”

“Life must not be a novel that is given to us, but one that is made by us. ”