Displaying Top 10 G. E. Lessing quotes

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It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.

Hamburgische Dramaturgie - 1767 - 1769, Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767.


Pearls mean tears.

Emilia Galotti - 1772, Act II, scene VIII.


What is a hero without love for mankind?

Philotas - 1759, Act 1, Scene 7.


Better counsel comes overnight.

Emilia Galotti - 1772, Act IV, scene III


Man - who is he? Too bad, to be the work of God: Too good for the work of chance!

quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources - 1899 by James Wood.


Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel.

Quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources - 1899 by James Wood.