25 Quotes by E. T. A. Hoffmann

How prone poor Humanity is to dam up the minutest remnants of its freedom, and build an artificial roof to prevent it looking up to the clear blue sky.

Once you are dancing with the devil, the prettiest capers won't help you.

Is it not in the most absolute simplicity that real genius plies its pinions the most wonderfully?

Think of the wonderful circles in which our whole being moves and from which we cannot escape no matter how we try. The circler circles in these circles.

Not a single man on earth knows from his own experience the how and where of his birth, only from tradition, which is often very uncertain.

It is nearly always the most improbable things that really come to pass.

Boys should not play with weapons more dangerous than they understand.

It is useless to contend with the irresistible power of Time, which goes on continually creating by a process of constant destruction.

As the priest is characterized by his cassock, so the smoker by his pipe. The way in which he holds it, raises it to his lips, and knocks out the ashes, reveals his personality, habits, passions, and even his thoughts.