Those who believe themselves wise regard as real only the appearance of things, but these fashioners of falsehood will have their reward. Fragments

A man never speaks of himself without losing something. What he says in his disfavor is always believed, but when he commends himself, he arouses mistrust. Essays

„All existence seemed to be based on duality, on contrast. Either one was a man or one was a woman, either a wanderer or sedentary burgher, either a thinking person or a feeling person-no one could breathe in at the same time as he breathed out, be a man as well as a woman, experience freedom as well as order, combine instinct and mind. One always had to pay for one with the loss of the other, and one thing was always just as important and desirable as the other.“ Narcissus and Goldmund

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. The Decay of Lying