"Here, everything is tragic through and through,..." - Quote by Richard Wagner

“Everything lives and lasts by the inner necessity of its being, by its own nature's need.”

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”

“Achievements, seldom credited to their source, are the result of unspeakable drudgery and worries.”

“We can only begin to live when we conceive life as Tragedy.”

“There are moments in history when brooding tragedy and its dark shadows can be lightened by recalling great moments of the past.”

“Our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these children and the families of the adults we lost....May god bless the memory of the victims and in the words of scripture heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.”

“Who can attain to anything great if he does not feel in himself the force and will to inflict great pain? The ability to suffer is a small matter: in that line, weak women and even slaves often attain masterliness. But not to perish from internal distress and doubt when one inflicts great suffering and hears the cry of it that is great, that belongs to greatness.”

“Joy is of the will which labours, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.”

“You see, gentlemen, reason is an excellent thing, there’s no disputing that, but reason is nothing but reason and satisfies only the rational side of man’s nature, while will is a manifestation of the whole life, that is, of the whole human life including reason and all the impulses. And although our life, in this manifestation of it, is often worthless, yet it is life and not simply extracting square roots.”