Jean Paul (1763–1825,) born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories. Jean Paul was born at Wunsiedel, in the Fichtelgebirge mountains. His father was an organist at Wunsiedel. In 1765 his father became a pastor at Joditz near Hof and, in 1767 at Schwarzenbach, but he died on 25 April 1779, leaving the family in great poverty. After attending the Gymnasium at Hof, in 1781 Jean Paul went to the University of Leipzig. His original intention was to enter his father’s profession, but theology did not interest him, and he soon devoted himself wholly to the study of literature. Unable to maintain himself at Leipzig he returned in 1784 to Hof, where he lived with his mother. From 1787 to 1789 he served as a tutor at Töpen, a village near Hof; and from 1790 to 1794 he taught the children of several families in a school he had founded in nearby Schwarzenbach.
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Idleness is many gathered miseries in one name.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Idleness, One liners
The miracle on earth are the laws of heaven.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Miracles
Never write on a subject until you have read yourself full of it.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Authors & Writing, Writing, Writers
A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another’s.
—Jean Paul
Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Humanity, Forgiveness
The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Nature, Death
Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Happiness
Cheerfulness is the atmosphere under which all things thrive.
—Jean Paul
Unhappy is the man for whom his own mother has not made all other mothers venerable.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Mother
Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in bearing it.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Poverty
Paradise is always where love dwells.
—Jean Paul
No one is more profoundly sad than he who laughs too much.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Laughter, Awareness
The clew of our destiny, wander where we will, lies at the foot of the cradle.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Destiny, Children
We learn our virtues from the bosom friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.
—Jean Paul
The child is not to be educated for the present, but for the remote future, and often is opposition to the immediate future.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Future, The Future
A timid person is frightened before a danger; a coward during the time; and a courageous person afterward.
—Jean Paul
Topics: Danger, Courage, Bravery
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