A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's.
– Jean Paul Richter
Age does not matter if the matter does not age.
– Jean Paul Richter
All souls must undergo transmigration and the souls of men revolve like a stone which is thrown from a sling, so many turns before the final release... Only those who have not completed their perfection must suffer the wheel of rebirth by being reborn into another human body.
– Jean Paul Richter
As winter strips the leaves from around us, so that we may see the distant regions they formerly concealed, so old age takes away our enjoyments only to enlarge the prospect of the coming eternity.
– Jean Paul Richter
Beauty attracts us men; but if, like an armed magnet it is pointed, beside, with gold and silver, it attracts with tenfold power.
– Jean Paul Richter
Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account?
– Jean Paul Richter
Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.
– Jean Paul Richter
Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality.
– Jean Paul Richter
Every friend is to the other a sun, and a sunflower also. He attracts and follows.
– Jean Paul Richter
Every man has a rainy corner of his life whence comes foul weather which follows him.
– Jean Paul Richter
Every man regards his own life as the New Year's Eve of time.
– Jean Paul Richter
For sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed, they must be interrupted.
– Jean Paul Richter
God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul.
– Jean Paul Richter
Good actions ennoble us, we are the sons of our own deeds.
– Jean Paul Richter
Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life.
– Jean Paul Richter
Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.
– Jean Paul Richter
I have made as much out of myself as could be made of the stuff, and no man should require more.
– Jean Paul Richter
It is simpler and easier to flatter people than to praise them.
– Jean Paul Richter
Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.
– Jean Paul Richter
Like a morning dream, life becomes more and more bright the longer we live, and the reason of everything appears more clear. What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter as we approach the end.
– Jean Paul Richter
Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest.
– Jean Paul Richter
Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.
– Jean Paul Richter
Never write on a subject until you have read yourself full of it.
– Jean Paul Richter
Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.
– Jean Paul Richter
Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in bearing it.
– Jean Paul Richter
Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out.
– Jean Paul Richter
Sorrows are like thunderclouds, in the distance they look black, over our heads scarcely gray.
– Jean Paul Richter
Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains; but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them.
– Jean Paul Richter
Strong characters are brought out by change of situation, and gentle ones by permanence.
– Jean Paul Richter
The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surround them; their notions of good and evil are the result of the moral atmosphere they breathe.
– Jean Paul Richter
The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying.
– Jean Paul Richter
The miracle on earth are the laws of heaven.
– Jean Paul Richter
The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering galleries, they are clearly heard at the end, and by posterity.
– Jean Paul Richter
There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.
– Jean Paul Richter
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 Richter
There is a joy in sorrow which none but a mourner can know.
– Jean Paul Richter
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 Richter
Variety of mere nothings gives more pleasure than uniformity of something.
– Jean Paul Richter
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 Richter
Weaklings must lie.
– Jean Paul Richter
What makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease.
– Jean Paul Richter
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 Richter
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 Richter
You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth.
– Jean Paul Richter
Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.
– Jean Paul Richter
Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance as before a storm. When a storm approaches thee, be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower.
– Jean Paul Richter
Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in life.
– Jean Paul Richter
Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it a charm.