A biography for Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegelhasn’t been written yet.
“Mathematics is, as it were, a sensuous logic, and relates to philosophy as do the arts, music, and plastic art to poetry.”
“Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality.”
“Wit as an instrument of revenge is as infamous as art is as a means of sensual titillation.”
“A definition of poetry can only determine what poetry should be and not what poetry actually was and is; otherwise the most concise formula would be: Poetry is that which at some time and some place was thus named.”
“An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.”
“A so-called happy marriage corresponds to love as a correct poem to an improvised song.”
“Witty inspirations are the proverbs of the educated.”
“One can only become a philosopher, but not be one. As one believes he is a philosopher, he stops being one.”
“Art and works of art do not make an artist; sense and enthusiasm and instinct do.”
“What men are among the other formations of the earth, artists are among men.”
“Mysteries are feminine; they like to veil themselves but still want to be seen and divined.”
“Religion is absolutely unfathomable. Always and everywhere one can dig more deeply into infinities.”
“The German national character is a favorite subject of character experts, probably because the less mature a nation, the more she is an object of criticism and not of history.”
“Eternal life and the invisible world are only to be sought in God. Only within Him do all spirits dwell. He is an abyss of individuality, the only infinite plenitude.”
“Women do not have as great a need for poetry because their own essence is poetry.”
“Form your life humanly, and you have done enough: but you will never reach the height of art and the depth of science without something divine.”
“All men are somewhat ridiculous and grotesque, just because they are men; and in this respect artists might well be regarded as man multiplied by two. So it is, was, and shall be.”
“It is as deadly for a mind to have a system as to have none. Therefore it will have to decide to combine both.”
“Strictly speaking, the idea of a scientific poem is probably as nonsensical as that of a poetic science.”
“Novels tend to end as the Paternoster begins: with the kingdom of God on earth.”