After achieving colossal successes in the field of natural sciences, miracles cease. This is either because the Lord God resents the physicists who follow his every move, or because the competition with Don Bosco does not appeal to him - and even now, when religion is subject to danger, he did not deign to support it by a miracle .
Poetry has created more martyrs than religion. The history of the literature of any people and any era is a veritable martyrology.
The poet is a creator in miniature, like God, because he also creates characters in his own image and likeness.
The dramatist is celebrated for wringing tears from the spectators; he shares this talent with the onion.
Once, only a brilliant Jew could win in parliament; but if he conquered such mediocrity as Fould, it means that there are no more differences between Jews and Gentiles.
The beauty of spring has been known since winter, when, sitting by the stove, you write the best songs dedicated to the month of May.
To come over to the side of Christ is too difficult a task for a Jew: can he ever believe in the divinity of another Jew?
The prose translation of the poem is like a scarecrow in the moonlight.
It's amazing how so much ignorance fits into such a small head.
The past is the homeland of the human soul, sometimes we are possessed by longing for the feelings we once experienced. Even nostalgia for a previous pain.
We can rarely see the crack of a bell, but it is felt by the sound.
I have enough faith in myself. Now I believe in what is most important written in the Bible, I believe that Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac - Jacob and Jacob - Judah, as well as the fact that the latter met her on the high road by his daughter-in-law, Tamara . I also think that Lot drank too much with his daughters. I believe that Potiphar's wife held in her hands the clothes of the great grandfather Joseph. I think the two old men, who surprised Susanna while bathing, were very old. I also think that Jacob first lied to his brother and then to his father-in-law, that King David gave Uriah a good position in the army, that Solomon had a thousand wives, and then he began to complain that everything is vanity .
The Russians, due to the size of their country, are free from the limits of pagan nationalism, they are cosmopolitan, or at least one-sixth cosmopolitan, since Russia occupies almost one-sixth of the populated world.
Rousseau is a star watching from above; he loves people from above.
Since the custom of carrying a sword on the hip was abandoned, it is absolutely necessary to have a sharp mind.
From the moment religion begins to call for the help of philosophy, its death is imminent. Religion, like any absolutism, should not justify itself.
The most effective antidote against women is women themselves; indeed, this means, to cast out Satan with the help of Beelzebub, besides, such a cure is often more fatal than the disease itself.
The baptismal certificate serves as an entry ticket into European culture.
Seriousness manifests itself with greater force if it is preceded by a joke.
So many began with the intention of discrediting the church, of rising against it, and suddenly changed their views, fell on their knees, and worshipped. It happened to many as it happened to Balaam, the son of Beor, who set out to curse Israel and, despite his intentions, was blessed. Why? That he just heard nothing more than a donkey's voice.
The blind charlatan sells sight-protecting water at the market. He did not believe in her and went blind.
Masterless servants do not become free men for this reason alone - servitude is in their souls.
The chance visit to the mental hospital shows that faith proves nothing.
Laughter is as contagious as yawning.
The muzzled dog is barking at the back.
The perfection of the world is always in proportion to the perfection of the spirit that contemplates it. The good man also finds his own paradise on earth, and the bad man already feels his own hell here.
Moral suffering is easier to endure than physical suffering, and if, for example, I were offered the possibility to choose between a sick conscience and a sick tooth, I would choose the former.
Another strange thing is patriotism, the true love for the country! It is possible to love your country, love it for eighty years and not realize it; but for that you have to stay at home. Love for the German homeland only begins at the border.
Throughout the ages, scoundrels have tried to mask their infamous deeds behind devotion to religion, morality and patriotism.
The essence of music is a revelation of which no account can be given, and genuine music criticism is a science based on revelation.