Best 287 quotes of Friedrich Schiller on MyQuotes

Even weak men when united are powerful.

Egotism erects its center in itself; love places it out of itself in the axis of the universal whole. Love aims at unity, egotism at solitude. Love is the citizen ruler of a flourishing republic, egotism is a despot in a devastated creation. Egotism sows for gratitude, love for the ungrateful. Love gives, egotism lends; and love does this before the throne of judicial truth, indifferent if for the enjoyment of the following moment, or with the view to a martyr's crown--indifferent whether the reward is in this life or in the next.

Emulation is a noble and just passion, full of appreciation.

Even in a righteous cause force is a fearful thing.

Even now, nature is the only flame, on which the poetic spirit feeds; from it alone it draws all its power, to it alone it speaks even in the artificial, in the man engaged in culture.

Even the weak become strong when they are united.

Ever building, building to the clouds, still building higher, and never reflecting that the poor narrow basis cannot sustain the giddy tottering column.

Everlastingly chained to a single little fragment of the Whole, man himself develops into nothing but a fragment; everlastingly in his ear the monotonous sound of the wheel that he turns, he never develops the harmony of his being, and instead of putting the stamp of humanity upon his own nature, he becomes nothing more than the imprint of his occupation or of his specialized knowledge.

Every great mind seeks to labor for eternity. All men are captivated by immediate advantages; great minds alone are excited by the prospect of distant good.

Every man stamps his value on himself... man is made great or small by his own will.

Every true genius is bound to be naive.

False fancy brings real misery.

Far must thy researches go Wouldst thou learn the world to know; Thou must tempt the dark abyss Wouldst thou prove what Being is; Naught but firmness gains the prize, Naught but fullness makes us wise, Buried deep truth e'er lies.

Fate always wins, for our own heart within us Imperiously furthers its designs.

Fear of death is worse than dying.

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 are thou then, if thou, Bound to the tail of folly's uncurb'd steed, Must, vainly shrieking, with the drunken crowd, Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss.

Full of wisdom are the ordinations of fate.

For the world is only governed by self-interest.

Freedom exists only with power.

Friends show me what I can do, foes teach me what I should do.

Futurity is impregnable to mortal ken: no prayer pierces through heaven's adamantine walls. Whether the birds fly right or left, whatever be the aspect of the stars, the book of nature is a maze, dreams are a lie, and every sign a falsehood.

Glory to Women! They weave and entwine heavenly roses into an earthly life.

Gray hairs are death's blossoms.

Great souls endure in silence.

Great souls suffer in silence.

Happy he who learns to bear what he cannot change.

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 man as man they brother call; and scatter like the circling sun thy charities on all.

Heaven and earth fight in vain against a dunce!

He cannot complain of a hard sentence, who is made master of his own fate.

He that is over-cautious will accomplish but very little.

He that is overcautious will accomplish little.

He, that noble prize possessing He that boasts a friend that's true, He whom woman's love is blessing, Let him join the chorus too!

He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.

He who neglects the present moment throws away all he has.

He who never ventures beyond actuality will never win the prize of truth.

His saying was: live and let live.

Historians are prophets with their face turned backward.

History, insofar as it accustoms human beings to comprehend the whole of the past and to hasten forward with its conclusions into the far future, conceals the boundaries of birth and death, which enclose the life of the human being so narrowly and oppressively, and with a kind of optical illusion, expands his short existence into endless space, leading the individual imperceptibly over into humanity.

Honesty prospers in every condition of life.

Honor women! they entwine and weave heavenly roses in our earthly life.

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

I am my own heaven and hell!

I feel that I am a man of destiny.

If the art of gardening is at last to turn back from her extravagances and rest with her other sisters, it is, above everything, necessary to have clearly before you what you require . . . It is certainly tasteless and inconsistent to desire to encompass the world with a garden-wall, but very practicable and reasonable to make a garden . . . into a characteristic whole to the eye, heart, and nderstanding alike.

If thou art something bring thy soul and interchange with mine. - Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller.

If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.

If yon wish to be like the gods on earth, to be free in the realms of the dead, pluck not the fruit from the garden! In appearance it may glisten to the eye; but the perishable pleasure of possession quickly avenges the curse of curiosity.

If you have never seen beauty in a moment of suffering, you have never seen beauty at all. If you have never seen joy in a beautiful face, you have never seen joy at all.

If you would attain to your highest, go look upon a flower;what the flower does willessly, that do willingly.