The most agreeable of all ...

The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness; one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging alike at all hours; above all, of a golden temper and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker.
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Quotes from the same author

The more we see the more we must be able to imagine, and the more we imagine, the more we must think we see.
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Absolute truth belongs to Thee alone.
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Where wildness and disorder are visible in the dance, there Satan, death and all kinds of mischief are likewise upon the floor. For this reason I could wish that the dance of death were painted on the walls of all ball-rooms in order to warn the dancers, not by the levity of their deportment, to provoke the God of righteousness to visit them with a sudden judgment.
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the lute, of which you will tighten ten before you find one that will bear the stretch and keep the pitch.
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
The most deadly fruit is borne by the hatred which one grafts on an extinguished friendship
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 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing