Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Quotes

Quotes about:

• The true value of man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectability is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and to offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Real, Humility, Men

  "Anti-Goeze (1778)". "God Is Not Great". Book by Christopher Hitchens. Chapter 19, 2007.

  50 Copy quote

• To look forward to pleasure is also a pleasure.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Looks, Pleasure

  "Minna von Barnhelm". Play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Act IV, scene VI, 1763.

  31 Copy quote

• The search for truth is more precious than its possession.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Truth, Curiosity, Precious Possessions

  30 Copy quote

• For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Beauty, Lying, Clarity

  56 Copy quote

• Nature meant woman to be her masterpiece.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Women, Masterpiece

  "Emilia Galotti", V, 7, as quoted in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations, p. 886-97, 1922.

  5 Copy quote

• A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Thanksgiving, Gratitude, Prayer

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Ernest Bell, Andrew Moore (2009). “Minna Von Barnhelm, Or, the Soldier's Fortune”, p.34, Mondial

  28 Copy quote

• When the heart dares to speak, it needs no preparation.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Heart, Preparation, Needs

  "Mina von Barnhelm" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, V. 4, September 30, 1767.

  15 Copy quote

• The superstition in which we were brought up never loses its power over us, even after we understand it.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Superstitions, Loses, Bigotry

  4 Copy quote

• A blush is the sign which Nature hangs out to show where chastity and honor dwell.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Honor, Chastity, Shows

  6 Copy quote

• The more we see the more we must be able to imagine, and the more we imagine, the more we must think we see.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Thinking, Able, Fantasy

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Ellen Frothingham (2013). “Laocoon: An Essay upon the Limits of Painting and Poetry”, p.17, Courier Corporation

  20 Copy quote

• Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Drinking, Drunk, Lazy

  35 Copy quote

• If some things don't make you lose your sense of reason, then you have none to lose.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Reason, Ifs, Loses

  18 Copy quote

• Yesterday I lived, today I suffer, tomorrow I die; but I still think fondly, today and tomorrow, of yesterday.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Thinking, Yesterday, Suffering

  'Lied aus dem Spanischen'

  23 Copy quote

• Pleasures, riches, honor and joy are sure to have care, disgrace, adversity and affliction in their train. There is no pleasure without pain, no joy without sorrow. O the folly of expecting lasting felicity in a vale of tears, or a paradise in a ruined world.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Pain, Failure, Adversity

  19 Copy quote

• A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Wisdom, Eye, Men

  19 Copy quote

• Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Truth Is, Thee, Absolute Truth

  'Wolfenbüttler Fragmente'

  8 Copy quote

• The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness; one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging alike at all hours; above all, of a golden temper and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Love Life, Simple, Greatness

  20 Copy quote

• He who doesn't lose his wits over certain things has no wits to lose.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Tongue, Certain, Wit

  24 Copy quote

• Who cannot resolve upon a moment's notice To live his own life, he forever lives A slave to others.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Forever, Moments, Slave

  4 Copy quote

• Did the Almighty, holding in his right hand truth, and in his left hand search after truth, deign to proffer me the one I might prefer, in all humility, but without hesitation, I should request search after truth.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Truth, Humility, Hands

  28 Copy quote

• If the advice of a fool for once happens to be good, it requires a wise man to carry it out.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Wise, Men, Advice

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1868). “Nathan the Wise: A Dramatic Poem”, p.230

  5 Copy quote

• It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Children, Fairy Tale, Fairy

  "Nathan der Weise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, III, 6, 1779.

  8 Copy quote

• For the will and not the gift makes the giver.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Giver

  "Nathan der Weise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, I. 5, 1779.

  8 Copy quote

• Borrowing is not much better than begging.

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Begging You, Lending, Borrowing

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1950). “Nathan the Wise: (Nathan der Weise)”

  19 Copy quote

• It is not the truth that a man possesses, or believes that he possesses, but the earnest effort which he puts forward to reach the truth, which constitutes the worth of a man

  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

  Believe, Men, Effort

  7 Copy quote

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