Quotes by Alexander von Humboldt

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I am more and more convinced that our happiness depends much more on how we meet the events in our lives than on the nature of the events themselves.

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The one who relies more on himself, maybe more.

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The courage of the soldier is good only mixed with the best peaceful virtues, and discipline is good only mixed with the highest sense of freedom. When these exist separately—as happens because soldiers are armed even in time of peace—courage degenerates into slavery, and discipline into bestiality and insolence.

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Undoubtedly, the most important thing is the way a person perceives the desire, regardless of how it is in reality.

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Morality appeared with vice.

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The morality of nations depends on respect for women.

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Really serious aspiration to a certain goal is half the success in achieving it.

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Nature inspires love and attracts to itself simply because it is natural.

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The first and most important thing in life is to try to master yourself.

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Of all the arts, poetry, more than any other, exposes itself to the temptation to substitute its specific beauties, some stolen sparkles.

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Dryness heralds death everywhere.

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Mental exercises have an extremely beneficial influence on man, just as the sun has on nature; they dispel the gloomy mood and gradually lighten, warm and uplift the spirit.

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A liberal can become a minister, but that does not mean he will be a liberal minister.

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The idea is the only thing that never dies.

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Knowledge is always preceded by an assumption.

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Women are actually closer to the human ideal than men.

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For man there is nothing more interesting in the world than people.

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In pain, in misfortune, we console ourselves with hope.

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In the huge chain of causes and effects, no data can be examined in isolation.

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Nature speaks to man everywhere in a voice familiar to the soul.

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Nature is a single living whole, not an inanimate collection.

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Scientists are all brothers.

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Science is like a nation without borders.

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Knowledge teaches thinking, and thinking leads to power.

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Sensuality prevails everywhere where mental preoccupation is lacking.

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Giving a book as a gift reinforces the feeling of friendship more than a vase or a glass, because it adds a sense of elevation to the concept of friendship.