Top 356 Quotes & Sayings by Friedrich Schiller - Page 5

There are evil spirits who suddenly fix their abode in man's unguarded breast, causing us to commit devilish deeds, and then, hurrying back to their native hell, leave behind the stings of remorse in the poisoned bosom.

The first great law is to obey.

Cowards have done good and kind actions, but a coward never pardoned.

Toil of science swells the wealth of art.

Stern is the visage of necessity.

Thus Arm in Arm with thee I dare defy my century into the lists.

Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; we have frequently to exhaust the part of error, and even of folly, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom.

Even in a righteous cause force is a fearful thing.

A deep meaning often lies in old customs.

The Moor has done his work, the Moor may go.

The dream is short, repentance long.

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

Think with awe on the slow and quiet power of time.

I speak with the Eternal through the instrument of nature, through the world's history: I read the soul of the artist in his Apollo.

Joy is the mainspring in the whole Of endless Nature's calm rotation. Joy moves the dazzling wheels that roll In the great Time-piece of Creation.

Have Hope. Though clouds environs now, And gladness hides her face in scorn, Put thou the shadow from thy brow, - No night but hath its morn.

To the fool-king belongs the world.

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.

In the ardor of pursuit men soon forget the goal from which they start.

Man is made of the wholly common, and custom is his nurse; woe then to them who lay irreverent hands on his old house-furniture, the dear inheritance from his forefathers: For time consecrates, and what is gray with age becomes religion.

Vast, colossal destiny, which raises man to fame, though it may also grind him to powder!

Be true, and thou shalt fetter time with everlasting chain.

Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance. In this great balance of utility, the spiritual service of art has no weight, and, deprived of all encouragement, it vanishes from the noisy Vanity Fair of our time.

Individual character is in the right that is in strict consistence with itself. Self-contradiction is the only wrong.

When the gods were more manlike, Men were more godlike.

The painter is, as to the execution of his work, a mechanic; but as to his conception and spirit and design he is hardly below even the poet.

The world's history is constant, like the laws of nature, and simple, like the souls of men. The same conditions continually produce the same results.

Let him that sows the serpent's teeth not hope to reap a joyous harvest. Every crime has, in the moment of its perpetration, its own avenging angel,--dark misgivings at the inmost heart.

Ah, to that far distant strand Bridge there was not to convey, Not a bark was near at hand, Yet true love soon found the way.

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.

To know thyself--in others self-concern; Would'st thou know others? read thyself--and learn!

Cling to thy native land, for it is the land of thy fathers?

O'er Ocean, with a thousand masts, sails forth the stripling bold- One boat, hard rescued from the deep, draws into port the old!

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

You worthy critics, or whatever you may call yourselves, are ashamed or afraid of the momentary and passing madness which is found in all real creators, the longer or shorter duration of which distinguishes the thinking artist from the dreamer. Hence your complaints of unfruitfulness, for you reject too soon and discriminate too severely.

A noble soul spreads even over a face in which the architectonic beauty is wanting an irresistible grace, and a often even triumphs over the natural disfavor.

No cause has he to say his doom is harsh, who's made the master of his destiny.

To rankling poison hast thou turned in me the milk of human kindness.

Yes great people are always subject to persecution and always getting into straits.

Yet have I ever heard it said that spies and tale-bearers have done more mischief in this world than poisoned bowl or the assassin's dagger.

Wine invents nothing; it only tattles.

O God, how lovely still is life!

The storm is master. Man, as a ball, is tossed twixt winds and billows.

Sentimental poetry differs from naive poetry in that it relates the real state at which the latter stops to ideas and applies ideas to that reality.

Around, around, Companions all, take your ground, And name the bell with joy profound! CONCORDIA is the word we've found Most meet to express the harmonious sound, That calls to those in friendship bound.

Satisfied if they themselves can escape from the hard labour of thought, they willingly abandon to others the guardianship of their thoughts.

Fear of death is worse than dying.

An honest man you may form of windle-straws, but to make a rogue you must have grist.

We must bear what Heaven sends.

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.

O jealousy! thou magnifier of trifles.

It is not the mere station of life that stamps the value on us, but the manner in which we act our part.

The dignity of man into your hands is given; Oh, keep it well, with you it sinks or lifts itself to heaven.

One drop of hatred left in the cup of joy turns the most blissful draught into poison.

Alas! When duty grows thy law, enjoyment fades away.

It is at the approach of extreme danger when a hollow puppet can accomplish nothing, that power falls into the mighty hands of nature, of the spirit giant-born, who listens only to himself, and knows nothing of compacts.

I am better than my reputation

Only the soldier is a free man, because he can look death in the face.

A healthy nature needs no God or immortality

Chains of iron or of silk-both are chains.