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Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us.

— Alexander von Humboldt Seed-grain for Thought and Discussion (1856)

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More quotes by Alexander von Humboldt

Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things.

Equinoctial Regions of America (1814)

The expression of vanity and self-love becomes less offensive, when it retains something of simplicity and frankness.

Equinoctial Regions of America (1814)

A physical delineation of nature terminates at the point where the sphere of intellect begins, and a new world of mind is opened to our view. It marks the limit, but does not pass it.

Kosmos (1845)

In order to ameliorate without commotion new institutions must be made, as it were, to rise out of those which the barbarism of centuries has consecrated.

Equinoctial Regions of America (1814)

I despise mankind in all its strata; I foresee that our descendants will be still far unhappier than we are. Would I not be a criminal if, notwithstanding this view, I should provide for progeny, i. e. for unfortunates?

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The confusion of marriage with morality has done more to destroy the conscience of the human race than any other single error.

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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis God in the Dock (1970)

Affectation hides three times as many virtues as charity does sins.

Horace Mann Thoughts Selected from the Writings of Horace Mann (1867)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Alexander von Humboldt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.