| James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899. | | | | Gellert |
| | | Die Eintracht nur macht stark und gross, / Die Zwietracht stürzet alles nieder—Only concord makes us strong and great; discord overthrows everything. | 1 |
| Du hast das nicht, was andre haben, / Und andern mangeln deine Gabe; / Aus dieser Unvollkommenheit / Entspringt die Geselligkeit—Thou hast not what others have, and others want what has been given thee; out of such defect springs good-fellowship. | 2 |
| Enjoy what God has given thee, and willingly dispense with what thou hast not. Every condition has its own joys and sorrows. | 3 |
| He who cannot profit you as a friend may at any time injure you as an enemy. | 4 |
| Je minder sich der Kluge selbst gefällt, / Um desto mehr schätzt ihn die Welt—The less the sage pleases himself, the more the world esteems him. | 5 |
| Lebe, wie du, wenn du stirbst, / Wünschen wirst, gelebt zu haben—Live, as you will wish to have lived when you come to die. | 6 |
| Man mag Amphion sein und Fels und Wald bewegen, / Deswegen kann man doch nicht Bauern widerlegen—One may be a very Amphion and be able to move trees and rocks, and yet be unable to reduce peasants to reason. | 7 |
| Man muss, will man ein Glück geniessen, / Die Freiheit zu behaupten wissen—If we would enjoy what fortune gives us, we must know how to maintain our freedom. | 8 |
| Nicht jede Besserung ist Tugend—Not every improvement is virtue. | 9 |
| The best gifts find the fewest admirers, and most men mistake the bad for the good. | 10 |
| The less the wise man pleases himself, the more the world esteems him. | 11 |
| The miser is niggardly in death; two glances he casts on his coffin and a thousand with dismay on his anxiously-guarded treasures. | 12 |
| The truth we need is only lightly veiled, not deeply buried by the wise hand which has designed it for us. | 13 |
| Thou hast not what others have, and others have not the gift thou hast. From this imperfection springs sociability. | 14 |
| Wer dir als Freund nichts nützen kann / Kann allemal als Feind dir schaden—He who can do you no service as a friend, can always work you harm as an enemy. | 15 | | |
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