Sorrows gather around great souls as storms do around mountains but, like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them. – Jean Paul
What makes old age so sad is not that our joys but our hopes cease. – Jean Paul
Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm. – Jean Paul
As winter strips the leaves from around us, so that we may see the distant regions they formerly concealed, so old age takes away our enjoyments only to enlarge the prospect of the coming eternity. – Jean Paul