Heine, Heinrich

"We should forgive our enemies, but only after they have been hanged first."

"The fundamental evil of the world arose from the fact that the good Lord has not created money enough."

"In earlier religions the spirit of the time was expressed through the individual and confirmed by miracles. In modern religions the spirit is expressed through the many and confirmed by reason."

"I have never seen an ass who talked like a human being, but I have met many human beings who talked like asses."

"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." - Almansor: A Tragedy

"It must require an inordinate share of vanity and presumption, too, after enjoying so much that is good and beautiful on earth, to ask the Lord for immortality in addition to it all." - City of Lucca

"Oh what lies there are in kisses!" - In den Küssen, welche Lüge

"God will forgive me; it is his trade." - reportedly said on his deathbed