Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Quotes & Sayings

#1. Did the Almighty, holding in his right hand truth, and in his left hand search after truth, deign to proffer me the one I might prefer, in all humility, but without hesitation, I should request search after truth.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#2. A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#3. He who doesn't lose his wits over certain things has no wits to lose.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#4. Nothing under the sun is ever accidental.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#5. It is open to every man to choose the direction of his striving," he explained, "and every man may take comfort from the fine saying that the search for truth is more precious than its possession."70

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#6. It is medicine, not poison, I offer you.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#7. Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#8. The end-purpose of all art is enjoyment!

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#9. The lion is ashamed, it's true, when he hunts with the fox.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#10. Who cannot resolve upon a moment's notice To live his own life, he forever lives A slave to others.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#11. The more we see the more we must be able to imagine, and the more we imagine, the more we must think we see.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#12. Pure truth is for God alone.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#13. We moderns do not believe in demigods, but our smallest hero we expect to feel and act as a demigod.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#14. A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most perfect prayer.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#15. What can the Creator see with greater pleasure than a happy creature?

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#16. Yesterday I lived, today I suffer, tomorrow I die; but I still think fondly, today and tomorrow, of yesterday.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#17. How can such deep-imprinted images sleep in us at times, till a word, a sound, awake them?

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#18. Nothing under the sun is accidental, least of all that of which the intention is so clearly evident.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#19. Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#20. Let each man say what he deems truth, and let truth itself be commended unto God.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#21. A blush is the sign which Nature hangs out to show where chastity and honor dwell.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#22. To look forward to pleasure is also a pleasure.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#23. It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#24. The superstition in which we grew up, Though we may recognize it, does not lose Its power over us.-Not all are free Who make mock of their chains.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#25. Pleasures, riches, honor and joy are sure to have care, disgrace, adversity and affliction in their train. There is no pleasure without pain, no joy without sorrow. O the folly of expecting lasting felicity in a vale of tears, or a paradise in a ruined world.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#26. Ein einziger dankbarer Gedanke gen Himmel ist das vollkommenste Gebet. One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#27. I know not whether there exists such a thing as a coin stamped with a pair of pinions; but I wish this were the device which monarchs put upon their dollars and ducats, to show that riches make to themselves wings, and fly away.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#28. The true vagrant is the only king above all comparison.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#29. The superstition in which we were brought up never loses its power over us, even after we understand it.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#30. Nature intended that woman should be her masterpiece.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#31. The searcher's eye Not seldom finds more than he wished to find.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#32. The most deadly fruit is borne by the hatred which one grafts on an extinguished friendship.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#33. Nature meant woman to be her masterpiece.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#34. Resist as much as thou wilt; heaven's ways are heaven's ways.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#35. If the advice of a fool for once happens to be good, it requires a wise man to carry it out.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#36. Well was it said by a man of sagacity that dancing was a sort of privileged and reputable folly, and that the best way to be convinced of this was to close the ears and judge of it by the eyes alone.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#37. I, who ne'erWent for myself a begging, go a borrowing,And that for others. Borrowing's much the sameAs begging; just as lending upon usuryIs much the same as thieving.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#38. For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#39. With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the lute, of which you will tighten ten before you find one that will bear the stretch and keep the pitch.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

#40. It is not the truth that a man possesses, or believes that he possesses, but the earnest effort which he puts forward to reach the truth, which constitutes the worth of a man.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing