Friedrich Schiller

"I am better than my reputation."

"If thou canst not give pleasure to all by thy deeds and thy knowledge Give it then, unto the few; many to please is but in vain."

"Welcome, all ye myriad creatures! Brethren, take the kiss of love!"

"What are hopes, what are plans?"

"Man is created free, and is free, Though he be born in chains."

"KING PHILIPP II: Can you establish some new creed to justify my bloody murder of my only son? GRAND INQUISITOR: To appease eternal justice and redeem us, God's own Son was killed on the wooden cross. KING: And can you spread this creed throughout all Europe? GRAND INQUISITOR: Far and wide, everywhere people worship the cross."

"Liebe ist nur dem bekannt, der hoffnungslos in der Liebe beharrt"

"Was man nicht aufgibt, hat man nie verloren."

"Life is only error, And death is knowledge."

"Whatever is not forbidden is permitted."

"Life is earnest, art is gay."

"I am called The richest monarch in the Christian world; The sun in my dominion never sets."

"The empire of Saturnus is gone by; Lord of the secret birth of things is he; Within the lap of earth, and in the depths Of the imagination dominates; And his are all things that eschew the light. The time is o'er of brooding and contrivance, For Jupiter, the lustrous, lordeth now, And the dark work, complete of preparation, He draws by force into the realm of light. Now must we hasten on to action, ere The scheme, and most auspicious positure Parts o'er my head, and takes once more its flight, For the heavens journey still, and adjourn not."

"The strong man is strongest when alone."

"Pain is short, and joy is eternal."

"There are three lessons I would write, — Three words — as with a burning pen, In tracings of eternal light Upon the hearts of men. Have Hope. Though clouds environ now, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put thou the shadow from thy brow, — No night but hath its morn. Have Faith. Where'er thy bark is driven, — The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth, — Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven, The habitants of earth. Have Love. Not love alone for one, But men, as man, thy brothers call; And scatter, like the circling sun, Thy charities on all. Thus grave these lessons on thy soul, — Hope, Faith, and Love, — and thou shalt find Strength when life's surges rudest roll, Light when thou else wert blind."

"Virtue is no empty echo."

"Sense of wrongs forget to treasure— Brethren, live in perfect love! In the starry realms above, God will mete as we may measure."

"To the Gods we ne'er can render Praise for every good they grant; Let us, with devotion tender, Minister to grief and want. Quenched be hate and wrath forever, Pardoned be our mortal foe— May our tears upbraid him never, No repentance bring him low!"

"Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield! Against stupidity the very gods Themselves contend in vain. Exalted reason, Resplendent daughter of the head divine, Wise foundress of the system of the world, Guide of the stars, who art thou then if thou, Bound to the tail of folly's uncurbed steed, Must, vainly shrieking with the drunken crowd, Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss. Accursed, who striveth after noble ends, And with deliberate wisdom forms his plans! To the fool-king belongs the world."

"Man is made of ordinary things, and habit is his nurse."

"Bow before Him, all creation! Mortals, own the God of love! Seek Him high the stars above,— Yonder is His habitation!"

"Grosse Seelen dulden still."

"Appearance should never attain reality, And if nature conquers, then must art retire."

"Who dares impede my progress? Who presume The spirit to control which guideth me? Still must the arrow wing its destined flight! Where danger is, there must Johanna be; Nor now, nor here, am I foredoomed to fall; Our monarch's royal brow I first must see Invested with the round of sovereignty. No hostile power can rob me of my life, Till I've accomplished the commands of God."

"Virtue has her heroes too As well as Fame and Fortune."

"I have only an office here, and no opinion."

"O the idea was childish, but divinely beautiful."

"The lemonade is weak, like your soul."

"Have faith! where'er thy bark is driven,— 'The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth,— Know this! God rules the host of heaven, The inhabitants of earth."

"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice."

"Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht."

"Man kann den Menschen nicht verwehren, Zu denken, was sie wollen."

"Dare to be wise! Energy and spirit is needed to overcome the obstacles which indolence of nature as well as cowardice of heart oppose to our instruction. It is not without significance that the old myth makes the goddess of Wisdom emerge fully armed from the head of Jupiter; for her very first function is warlike. Even in her birth she has to maintain a hard struggle with the senses, which do not want to be dragged from their sweet repose. The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error. Content if they themselves escape the hard labor of thought, men gladly resign to others the guardianship of their ideas, and if it happens that higher needs are stirred in them, they embrace with a eager faith the formulas which State and priesthood hold in readiness for such an occasion."

"Nothing, it is true, is more common than for both Science and Art to pay homage to the spirit of the age, and for creative taste to accept the law of critical taste."

"Threefold the stride of Time, from first to last! Loitering slow, the Future creepeth — Arrow-swift, the Present sweepeth — And motionless forever stands the Past."

"Votes should be weighed, not counted. Sooner or later, the state will be wrecked In which majority rules, and ignorance decides."

"The joke loses everything when the joker laughs himself."

"We are citizens of an age, as well as of a State; and if it is held to be unseemly, or even inadmissable, for a man to cut himself off from the customs and manners of the circle in which he lives, why should it be less of a duty, in the choice of his activity, to submit his decision to the needs and the taste of his century?"

"Das Leben ist Nur ein Moment, der Tod ist auch nur einer!"

"I feel an army in my fist."

"Did you think the lion was sleeping because he didn't roar?"

"To save all we must risk all."

"Lo, the dead shall rise to heaven! Brethren hail the blest decree; Every sin shall be forgiven, Hell forever cease to be!"

"What the inner voice says Will not disappoint the hoping soul."

"A moment lived in paradise Is not atoned for too dearly by death."

"On the mountains there is freedom! The world is perfect everywhere, Save where man comes with his torment."

"Wouldst thou know thyself, observe the actions of others. Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart."

"What one refuses in a minute No eternity will return."

"The mountain cannot frighten one who was born on it."