Germany

Explore 254 quotes by people from Germany

What's not forbidden to do make bold.

Friedrich Schiller

The Camp of Wallenstein

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Topic

Moral theory

Speaker

First Yager

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

The Camp of Wallenstein

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

German

Time

1798 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Wallensteins Lager [Wallenstein's Camp]. 12 Oct. 1798, Weimarer Hoftheatre, Weimar, Germany, sc. 6.

Current Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. "Wallenstein's Camp." The Robbers and Wallenstein, translated by F. J. Lamport. Penguin Classics, 1980, sc. 6.

Who reflects too much will accomplish little.

Friedrich Schiller

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Topic

Thinking vs. doing

Speaker

Wilhelm Tell

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

Wilhelm Tell

Medium

Play

Genre

Drama (play) Drama

Language

German

Time

1804 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Wilhelm Tell [William Tell]. 17 Mar. 1804, Weimarer Hoftheatre (now Deutsche Nationaltheatre Weimar), Weimar, Germany, act 3, sc. 1.

To abolish the fences of laws between men—as tyranny does—means to take away man's liberties and destroy freedom as a living political reality; for the space between men as it is hedged in by laws, is the living space of freedom.

Hannah Arendt

The Origins of Totalitarianism

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Topic

Rule of law

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Schocken Books, 1951, pt. 3, ch. 13.

Every tool carries with it the spirit by which it has been created.

Werner Heisenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Tools

Author

Werner Heisenberg

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. "An Old and a New Tradition." Gifford Lectures. Winter term 1955-1956, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.

Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.

Martin Heidegger

Building Dwelling Thinking

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Topic

Language

Author

Martin Heidegger

Source

Building Dwelling Thinking

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Heidegger, Martin. "Bauen Wohnen Denken [Building Dwelling Thinking]." Darmstadt Symposium on Man and Space. 5 Aug. 1951, Darmstadt, Germany. Lecture.

Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.

Herbert Marcuse

One-Dimensional Man

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Topic

Limits of democracy Elections Democracy

Author

Herbert Marcuse

Source

One-Dimensional Man

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Beacon Press, 1964, ch. 1.

Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a foretaste of the resurrection.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Psychological Remarks

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Topic

Saying goodbye

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

Psychological Remarks Parerga and Paralipomena

Language

German

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychologische Bemerfungen [Psychological Observations]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 2, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Psychological Remarks." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Adrian Del Caro and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

It was as though in those last minutes he was summing up the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us—the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil.

Hannah Arendt

On the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the organizers of the Holocaust.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of evil Evil The Holocaust

Author

Hannah Arendt

Source

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil The New Yorker

Medium

Essay Magazine

Genre

Political literature Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1963 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Arendt, Hanna. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Viking Press, 1963. Originally published by The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 1963.

It may be said likewise in respect of perfect wisdom, which is no less orderly than mathematics, that if there were not the best among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Theodicy

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Topic

Theodicy

Author

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Source

Theodicy

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosopical literature

Statement Type

Problem of evil

Language

English

Time

1710 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God and Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. 1710, pt. 1.

A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

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Topic

Society and the individual Man as social animal

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

The Magic Mountain

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mann, Thomas. Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1924, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 2.

Once we have power, we shall never again give it up, unless we are carried out as corpses from our offices.

Paul Joseph Goebbels

More information about this quote

Topic

Nazi Germany

Author

Paul Joseph Goebbels

Medium

Personal journal

Language

German

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Goebbels, Joseph. Diary entry. 6 Aug. 1932.

I am much occupied with the investigation of physical causes. My aim in this is to show that the celestial machine is not similar to a divine animated being, but similar to a clock.

Johannes Kepler

More information about this quote

Topic

The laws of physics The universe

Author

Johannes Kepler

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1605 1600s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Kepler, Johannes. Letter to Herwart von Hohenbury. 10 Feb. 1605.

Under certain circumstances, one nowhere feels as lonely and lost as in the metropolitan crowd.

Georg Simmel

The Metropolis and Mental Life

More information about this quote

Topic

Loneliness

Author

Georg Simmel

Source

The Metropolis and Mental Life

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

German

Time

1903 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Simmel, Georg. "Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben [The Metropolis and Mental Life]." The First German Municipal Exposition. 1903, Dresden, Germany.

Current Citation

Simmel, Georg. "The Metropolis and Mental Life." Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969.

We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires.

Pope Benedict XVI

More information about this quote

Topic

Decline of religion Moral relativism

Speaker

Pope Benedict XVI

Medium

Sermon

Language

Italian

Time

2005 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Cardinal Ratzinger, Joseph (later Pope Benedict XVI). "Homily of His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger." Conclave of cardinals, Mass. 18 Apr. 2005, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, Italy.

Since the measuring device has been constructed by the observer... We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning.

Werner Heisenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of science

Speaker

Werner Heisenberg

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1956 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. Lecture about the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory. Gifford Lectures. 1955-1956, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland.

Current Citation

Heisenberg, Werner. "The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory." Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2007.

God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children.
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first-aid station
covered with blood.

Yehuda Amichai

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

More information about this quote

Topic

War

Author

Yehuda Amichai

Source

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

Medium

Poem

Language

Hebrew

Time

1955 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Amichai, Yehuda. "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children." Now and in Other Days. 1955.

From the earliest times, human civilization has been no more than a strange luminescence growing more intense by the hour, of which no one can say when it will begin to wane and when it will fade away. For the time being, our cities still shine through the night, and the fires still spread.

Max Sebald

The Rings of Saturn

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Topic

Civilization

Author

Max Sebald

Source

The Rings of Saturn

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1995 1990s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sebald, Winfried Georg. Die Ringe des Saturn: Eine englische Wallfahrt [The Rings of Saturn: An English Pilgrimage]. Eichborn, 1995, pt. 7.

Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

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Topic

Boredom

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Beyond Good and Evil

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft [Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future]. Leipzig: C. G. Naumann, 1886, ch. 7, no. 227.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 2003, ch. 7, no. 227.

In proportion as the antagonism between classes within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nation to another will come to an end.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

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More information about this quote

Topic

Class conflict End of war Political theory

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Communist Manifesto

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Statement Type

Prophecies and predictions

Language

German

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. London, 1848, pt. 2.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto, translated by Samuel Moore and edited by Gareth Stedman Jones. Penguin Classics, 2015, pt. 2.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Albert Einstein

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Topic

Life Bicycles Momentum Idleness

Author

Albert Einstein

Source

Letters of Albert Einstein

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Einstein, Albert. "Letter to his son Eduard." Quoted in Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson. Simon & Schuster, 2007. Originally from Letter to his Son Eduard, 5 Feb. 1930.