Ludwig Börne, fully Karl Ludwig Börne

Only the suppressed word is dangerous.

In a million people there are a thousand thinkers, and in a thousand thinkers there is one self-thinker.

The secret of power is the knowledge that others are more cowardly than you are.

How can he love God who loves not His works?

Humor is a gift not of the mind, but of the heart.

It is not the mind, it is the heart that makes free.

Many a scholar is like a cashier: he has the key to much money, but the money is not his.

Not years but experiences age us; hence man would be the unhappiest of creatures were he a diligent pupil of experience. That each new generation and each new era starts out from the cradle is what keeps mankind eternally young.

Nought endures but change.

Restrictions by others chain the mind; by oneself, paralyze it.

There is nothing to fear but fear.

To regret nothing is the beginning of all wisdom.

To strengthen a weak government, we must reduce its power.

We can prevent people from learning, but we can't make them unlearn.

Bring the history of the past not as a gloomy memento mori, but as a friendly forget-me-not, whose lessons we may recall with love.

Experience is like a pitiless beauty. Years pass before you win her, and by the time she finally surrenders, you have both grown old and no longer need one another.

Governments which suppress freedom of speech... act like children who shut their eyes in order not to be seen.

An hour spent in hate is an eternity withdrawn from love.

Habit is a hard mistress.

Most people are dissatisfied, because too few know that the distance between one and nothing is greater than that between one and a thousand.

You may dispute principles, not experiences.

You must learn to know others in order to know yourself.