“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.”

German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian

Friedrich Schiller was a German playwright, poet, philosopher, and historian. He is one of the major figures of German classicism and a leading voice in the Sturm und Drang movement. He wrote across drama, poetry, philosophy, and history, and his work helped shape German literature in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is remembered for his broad human concerns and for writing with moral seriousness, dramatic energy, and a strong sense of idealism.