Quotes from Johann Ludwig Tieck

He is not dead who departs from life with a high and noble fame; but he is dead, even while living, whose brow is branded with infamy.

Consider too, how deep the abyss between life and death; across this, my power can build a bridge, but it can never fill up the frightful chasm.

How may I hate that which I love with such intensity of passion? How should I abhor that for which my every drop of blood is boiling?

Ich bin nicht nur bei jedem Mädchen, das ich liebte, eifersüchtig gewesen, sondern auch bei jeder andern, wenn sie nur hübsch war.

Oh, diese Eifersucht ist noch viel unbegreiflicher als unsre Liebe, denn wir können doch nicht alle Weiber und Mädchen zu unserm Eigentum machen; aber das lüsterne Auge läßt sich keine Schranken setzen, unsre Phantasie ist wie das Faß der Danaiden, unser Sehnen umfängt und umarmt jeglichen Busen.«

Time passes cold and indifferent over us; it knows nothing of our joys or sorrows; it leads us with ice-cold hand deeper and deeper into the labyrinth.

Love knows no winter; no, no! It is, and remains the sign of spring.

He who loves not flowers, has lost all love and fear of God.

He who considers himself a paragon of wisdom is sure to commit some superlatively stupid act.

Who cannot but see oftentimes how strange the threads of our destiny run? Oft it is only for a moment the favorable instant is presented. We miss it, and months and years are lost.