Germany

Explore 254 quotes by people from Germany

Little do they know that they meet under an empty sky from which the gods have departed.

Hans Morgenthau

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Topic

Disenchanted world Decline of religion Realpolitik Religion and politics International politics

Author

Hans Morgenthau

Source

Politics Among Nations

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.

And waiting means hurrying on ahead, it means regarding time and the present moment not as a boon, but an obstruction; it means making their actual content null and void, by mentally overleaping them. Waiting we say is long. We might just as well-or more accurately-say it is short, since it consumes whole spaces of time without our living them or making any use of them as such.

Thomas Mann

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Topic

Waiting Living in the present

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. 5.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 5.

All genuine political theories presuppose man to be evil, i. E., by no means an unproblematic but a dangerous and dynamic being.

Carl Schmitt

The Concept of the Political

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Topic

Political theory

Author

Carl Schmitt

Source

The Concept of the Political

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Schmitt, Carl. Der Begriff des Politischen [The Concept of the Political]. Duncker & Humblot, 1932, sect. 7.

Current Citation

Schmitt, Carl. The Concept of the Political, translated by George Schwab. University of Chicago Press, 2007, sect. 7.

Hold fast the time! Guard it, watch over it, every hour, every minute! Unregarded it slips away, like a lizard, smooth, slippery, faithless, a pixy wife. Hold every moment sacred. Give each clarity and meaning, each the weight of thine awareness, each its true and due fulfillment.

Thomas Mann

Lotte in Weimar

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Topic

Being present Living in the moment Ephemeral nature of time

Author

Thomas Mann

Source

Lotte in Weimar

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mann, Thomas. Lotte in Weimar [The Beloved Returns]. Stockholm: Gottfried Bermann Fischer, 1939, ch. 7.

The identity crisis... Occurs in that period of the life cycle when each of you must forge for himself some central perspective and direction, some working unity, out of the effective remnants of his childhood and the hopes of his anticipated adulthood.

Erik Erikson

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Topic

Growing up

Author

Erik Erikson

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Erikson, Erik. Young Man Luther. W. W. Norton & Company, 1958, ch. 1.

What one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does is thrown back at all Jews.

Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl

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Topic

The Jewish people Collective guilt

Author

Anne Frank

Source

The Diary of a Young Girl

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Dutch

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frank, Anne. Journal entry. 22 May 1944.

And here, poor fool! with all my lore
I stand! no wiser than before.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Useless facts

Speaker

Faust

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Faust

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust. Eine Tragödie [Faust: A Tragedy]. Tübingen: J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, 1808.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust, Part One, edited by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008.

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Thinking big

Speaker

Manto

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Faust

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust. Der Tragödie zweiter Teil [Faust. The Tragedy's Second Part]. 1832, act 2.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust: Part Two, translated by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 2.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

Albert Einstein

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Topic

Nationalism

Speaker

Albert Einstein

Author

George Sylvester Viereck

Source

What Life Means to Einstein The Saturday Evening Post

Medium

Interview Magazine

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Einstein, Albert. "What Life Means to Einstein." Interviewed by George Sylvester Viereck. The Saturday Evening Post, 26 Oct. 1929.

The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.

Arthur Schopenhauer

What a Man Is

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Topic

Obstacles to happiness Happiness

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

What a Man Is Parerga and Paralipomena

Language

German

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorismen zu Lebensweisheit: Bon Dem, was Einer ist [Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life: What a Man is]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 1, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorisms on the wisdom of life." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Sabine Roehr and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2016.

To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties.

Arthur Schopenhauer

On Women

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Topic

Marriage

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Source

On Women Parerga and Paralipomena

Language

German

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Ueber die Weiber [On Women]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 2, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

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

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

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Topic

How to live

Speaker

Serlo

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Medium

Novel

Statement Type

Advice

Language

German

Time

1786 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre [Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship]. Berlin: Johann Friedrich Unger, 1785-1786, bk. 5, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship." Goethe: The Collected Works, edited and translated by Eric A. Blackall. Vol. 9, Princeton University Press, 1995, bk. 5, ch. 1.

Many a crown shines spotless now
That yet was deeply sullied in the winning.

Friedrich Schiller

The Death of Wallenstein

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Topic

Ill gotten gains

Speaker

Wallenstein

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

The Death of Wallenstein

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1798 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Wallenstein. 20 Apr. 1799, Weimarer Hoftheatre (now Deutsche Nationaltheatre Weimar), Weimar, Germany, act 2, sc. 2.

Current Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. "Wallenstein's Death." The Robbers and Wallenstein, translated by F. J. Lamport. Penguin Classics, 1980, act 2, sc. 2.

A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Elective Affinities

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Topic

Teachers

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Elective Affinities

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Die Wahlvenwandtschaften [Elective Affinities]. Tubingen: J. G. Cottaische Buchhandlung, 1809, bk. 2, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Elective Affinities, translated by David Constantine. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 2, ch. 7.

For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.

Theodor Adorno

Minima Moralia

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Topic

Exile Writing

Author

Theodor Adorno

Source

Minima Moralia

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Adorno, Theodor. Minima Moralia: Reflexionen aus dem beschädigten Leben [Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life]. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1951.

Current Citation

Adorno, Theodor. Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life, translated by E. F. N. Jephcott. Verso, 2020.

I want to go on living even after death!

Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl

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Topic

Immortality

Author

Anne Frank

Source

The Diary of a Young Girl

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Dutch

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Frank, Anne. Journal entry. 5 Apr. 1944.

Just trust yourself and you'll learn the art of living.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Trusting oneself How to live

Speaker

Mephistopheles

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Faust

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Statement Type

Advice

Language

German

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Studiezimmer [Study Room]." Faust. Eine Tragödie [Faust: A Tragedy]. Tübingen: J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, 1808.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Study Room." Faust, Part One, edited by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Twilight of the Idols

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Topic

Power of music Music

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Twilight of the Idols

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1889 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Frederick. Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert [Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer]. Leipzig: Verlag von C. G. Naumann, 1889.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Frederick. Twilight of the Idols and the Anti-Christ: or How to Philosophize with a Hammer, translated by Walter Kaufman and R. J. Hollingdale. Penguin Classics, 1990.

We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Will to Power

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Topic

Art Truth

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

The Will to Power

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1888 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Der Wille zur Macht [The Will to Power]. Leipzig: C.G. Naumann, 1906.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Frederick. The Will to Power, translated by Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale, edited by Walter Kaufmann. Vintage, 1968.

Of the two evils the lesser is always to be chosen.

Thomas à Kempis

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Topic

Evil

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Source

The Imitation of Christ

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

Latin

Time

1427 1420s 15th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. De Imitatione Christi [The Imitation of Christ]. c. 1427.

Current Citation

A Kempis, Thomas. The Complete Imitation of Christ, translated by John Julian. Paraclete Press, 2012.