Jean Paul
Jean Paul
Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth21 March 1763
CountryGermany
mistake heart reason
Naturally, in the course of my life I have made lots of mistakes, large and small, for one reason or another, but at the heart of it all, every time I made a mistake it was because I was not radical enough.
existentialism destruction appropriate
To eat is to appropriate by destruction.
temptation bears impatience
At times discreetly, at times disgustingly, I yielded to the most fatal temptation whenever I could no longer bear it: as a result of impatience, Orpheus lost Eurydice; as a result of impatience, I lost myself.
mistake alive horror
To keep hope alive one must, in spite of all mistakes, horrors, and crimes, recognize the obvious superiority of the socialist camp.
filled-up existentialism plunge
Time is too large, it can't be filled up. Everything you plunge into it is stretched and disintegrates.
existentialism nothingness
Nothingness haunts Being.
tease used ifs
You see, I'm fond of teasing, it's a second nature with me—and I'm used to teasing myself. Plaguing myself, if you prefer; I don't tease nicely.
kings men secret
The painful secret of gods and kings is that men are free, Aegistheus. You know it and they do not.
heads-or-tails people going-away
When you live alone you no longer know what it is to tell a story: the plausible disappears at the same time as the friends. You let events flow by too: you suddenly see people appear who speak and then go away; you plunge into stories of which you can't make head or tail: you'd make a terrible witness.
laziness want today
I suppose it is out of laziness that the world is the same day after day. Today it seemed to want to change. And then anything, anything could happen.
existentialism existence
I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating.
honesty integrity character
It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form.
humble modesty virtue
I will not be modest. Humble, as much as you like, but not modest. Modesty is the virtue of the lukewarm.
time moon hair
Gray hairs seem to my fancy like the soft light of the moon, silvering over the evening of life.