Franz Grillparzer

''Human life, old and young, takes place between hope and remembrance. The young man sees all the gates to his desires open, and the old man remembers—his hopes.''

''They are miserly, the princes of Austria, you need not grieve about it; they may not donate anything, but they allow themselves to be fleeced, the good lords.''

''What raises great poetry above all else—it is the entire person and also the entire world.''

''The art of acting presupposes three phases: understanding a part, intuiting a part, and contemplating the essence of a part.''

''"What are the characteristics of today's world so that one may recognize it by them?" It pays pensions and borrows money: credit and monuments.''

''At certain times, men regard poetry merely as a bright flame, but to women it was, and always will be, a warm fire.''

''Genius resembles a bell; in order to ring it must be suspended into pure air, and when a foreign body touches it, its joyful tone is silenced.''

''Nothing genuinely historical was ever lost in this country. For this reason we have two ruling parties: villains and fools.''

''The first indication of a young person's growing smarter is that he no longer understands the things which he used to consider quite intelligible and self-evident.''

''I understand the phrase "Honor the Women" all too well: the poet has probably a wife of his own, but he prefers to honor another.''