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An illusion which makes me happy is worth a verity which drags me to the ground.

— Christoph Martin Wieland

Ein Wahn, der mich beglückt,
Ist eine Wahrheit werth, die mich zu Boden drückt.

Original text (German)

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Source and credibility

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Source: Idris, ein heroisch-comisches Gedicht, Song 3, line 79 (1768); translation from Harry T. Reis and Caryl E. Rusbult (eds.) Close Relationships (New York: Psychology Press, 2004) p. 321.
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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Saddle the Hippogriffs, ye Muses nine,
And straight we'll ride to the land of old Romance.

Thou mockest? Tremble! the avenger's lightning bolts do not forever dormant lie.

Man blindly works the will of fate.

The compulsion of fate is bitter.

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To do nothing by halves is the way of noble spirits.

What is the world to him now? a vast and vacant space, for fortune's wheel to roll about at will.

I have often thought that however learned you may talk about it, one knows nothing but what he learns from his own experience.

And less is often more, as Lessing's Prince teaches us.

Too oft is transient pleasure the source of long woes.

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Attribution

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