Friedrich Schiller

“That which is so universal as death must be a benefit.”

“With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.”

“The will of man is his happiness.”

“Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.”

“The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.”

“It is often wise to reveal that which cannot be concealed for long.”

“When the mechanic has to mend a watch he lets the wheels run out; but the living watchworks of the state have to be repaired while they act, and a wheel has to be exchanged for another during its revolutions.”

“Man is not better treated by nature in his first start than her other works are; so long as he is unable to act for himself as an independent intelligence she acts for him. But the very fact that constitutes him a man is that he does not remain stationary, where nature has placed him, that he can pass with his reason, retracing the steps nature had made him anticipate, that he can convert the work of necessity into one of free solution, and elevate physical necessity into a moral law.”

“There is room in the smallest cottage for a happy loving pair.”

“No doubt the artist is the child of his time; but woe to him if he is also its disciple, or even its favorite.”

“In the case of the creative mind, it seems to me, the intellect has withdrawn its watchers from the gates, and the ideas rush in pell-mell, and only then does it review and inspect the multitude. 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.”

“There is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.”

“Revenge is barren of itself: it is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its end is despair.”

“If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad.”

“To gain a crown by fighting is great, to reject it divine.”

“Will it, and set to work briskly.”

“Art is the right hand of Nature. The latter has only given us being, the former has made us men.”

“It is difficult to discriminate the voice of truth from amid the clamor raised by heated partisans.”

“Only through Beauty's morning-gate, dost thou penetrate the land of knowledge.”

“העמיד את הרפתקת החירות במרכז יצירתו המוקדמת. הוא עוסק ללא לאות בחירות רוחנית, בשחרור מחוקי הטבע ומעולו של הגוף, בחירות פנימית, בהתנגדות לכוחות חיצוניים, חברתיים או טבעיים, בחירות מוסרית.”