"The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reasons for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832):

"There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity."

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."

"We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves."

"Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable."

Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962):

"I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."

"Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity."

Søren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855):

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential -- for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never."

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900):

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."

"Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself."

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid."

(long version) "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

(short version) "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he doesn't become a monster."

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD):

"He who boasts of his ancestry is praising the deeds of another."

"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power."

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."

"Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long."

Voltaire (1694 - 1778):

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."

"You despise books; you whose lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure or indolence; but remember that all the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books."

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."

And to close another quote by Seneca to all those which's mention should be obvious once read:

"I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good."

"FORM BLAZING SWORD!"

HEY HEY HEY!