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1 " No one knows the extent of his powers unless he has tested them thoroughly. "
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , The Sorrows of Young Werther
2 " en conciencia, es más fácil el morir que el soportar con valor y firmeza una vida llena de amarguras y padecimientos. "
3 " aquel que ocupa el primer puesto, rara vez desempeña el papel principal. "
4 " It is true, I am only a wanderer on, a pilgrim on this earth! But are you more? "
5 " Misunderstandings and lethargy perhaps produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do. "
6 " Even the prudent and the good have before now hesitated to explain their mutual differences, and have dwelt in silence upon their imaginary grievances, until circumstances have become so entangled, that in that critical juncture, when a calm explanation would have saved all parties, an understanding was impossible. "
7 " We are happiest under the influence of innocent delusions. "
8 " When Odysseus speaks of the measureless sea and the boundless earth, it is all so true and human, so inwardly and closely felt, and so mysterious. What use is it if I, like any schoolboy, can now parrot that the earth is round? Man needs only a small patch of earth for his pleasures, and a smaller one still to rest beneath. "
9 " Nada me aborrece mais do que ver as pessoas se atormentarem umas as outras: e sobretudo os jovens, na primavera da vida, quando o coração podia desabrochar todas as alegrias, estragarem reciprocamente os seus melhores dias para reconhecer mais tarde que esbanjaram bens que nunca mais serão recuperados. "
10 " If that which harms oneself as well as one's neighbor deserves the name [of vice]. Is it not enough that we cannot make each otjer happy; should we in addition deprive each other of that pleasure which every heart may sometimes grant itself? "
11 " Minden, minden elmúlt! Semmi jele annak a volt világnak, egyetlen szívdobbanás sem maradt akkori érzéseimből. Mintha kísértet volnék, amely visszatér kiégett, romos kastélyába, dús fejedelem korában maga építette, tündöklőn fölékesített palotájába, amelyet haldoklásában is reménnyel telve hagyott szeretett fiára. "
12 " What a thing is Man, this lauded demi-god! Does he not lack the very powers he has most need of? And if he should soar in joy, or sink in sorry, is he not halted and returned to his cold, dull consciousness at the very moment he was longing to be lost in the vastness of infinity? "