To test a modest man's modesty do not investigate if he ignores applause, find out if he abides criticism.

Ideas are not thoughts; the thought respects the boundaries that the idea ignores thereby failing to realize itself.

Being decent is remote from being modest because there are decent who are not modest. Modesty is the key.

Those who want to row on the ocean of human knowledge do not get far, and the storm drives those out of their course who set sail.

It's the misfortune of German authors that not a single one of them dares to expose his true character. Everyone thinks that he has to be better than he is.

Genius unrefined resembles a flash of lightning, but wisdom is like the sun.