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Explore 305 quotes originally in German

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it... An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul.

Max Planck

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Progress

Author

Max Planck

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

German

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Planck, Max. The Philosophy of Physics. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1936.

There is always something spiritual about the approach of winter. You retire into your innermost chambers and camp near the small glow you find there.

Paul Klee

More information about this quote

Topic

Winter Seasons Nature

Author

Paul Klee

Source

Journals of Paul Klee

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Klee, Paul. The Diaries of Paul Klee, 1898-1918, edited by Felix Klee. University of California Press, 1968. Originally a diary entry, 8 Oct. 1917.

No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that-one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

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Topic

Personal growth Authenticity

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Demian

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

German

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend [Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth]. Fischer Verlag, 1919.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Demian, translated by Damion Searls. Penguin Classics, 2013.

We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.

Carl Jung

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Topic

Reason and emotion Reason Emotions

Author

Carl Jung

Source

Psychological Types

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

German

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jung, Carl. Psychologische Typen [Psychological Types]. Rascher Verlag, 1921.

Current Citation

Jung, Carl. Psychological Types, edited by R. F. C. Hull, translated by H. G. Baynes. Princeton University Press, 1976.

For time is the medium of narration, as it is the medium of life. Both are inextricably bound up with it, as inextricably as are bodies in space. Similarly, time is the medium of music; music divides, measures, articulates time, and can shorten it, yet enhance its value, both at once.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

More information about this quote

Topic

Time Music

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. 7.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 7.

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.

Carl Jung

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Topic

Raising kids Parents and children Change starts at home Self-improvement Personal growth

Author

Carl Jung

Source

The Development of Personality

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

German

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jung, Carl. The Integration of Personality, translated by Stanley Dell. Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

We come out of the dark and go into the dark again, and in between lie the experiences of our life. But the beginning and end, birth and death, we do not experience; they have no subjective character, they fall entirely in the category of objective events, and that's that.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition Life and death

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. 6.

Current Citation

Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. Everyman's Library, 2005, ch. 6.

We are like sailors who must rebuild their ship on the open sea, never able to dismantle it in dry-dock and to reconstruct it there out of the best materials.

Otto Neurath

More information about this quote

Topic

The human condition

Author

Otto Neurath

Source

Anti-Spengler

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Neurath, Otto. Anti-Spengler. G.D.W. Callwey, 1921.

Current Citation

Neurath, Otto. Quoted in Otto Neurath: Philosophy Between Science and Politics, written by Nancy Cartwright, Jordi Cat, Lola Fleck and Thomas E. Uebel. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased the urban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescued a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

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Topic

Urbanization Small town life Rural vs. urban Bourgeoisie

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Communist Manifesto

Medium

Pamphlet

Genre

Political literature Economic literature

Language

German

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels [published anonymously]. Manifest der kommunistischen Partei [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. London: Gedruckt in der Office der Bildungs-Gesellschaft für Arbeiter, 1848.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto, translated by Samuel Moore and Friedrich Engels. Penguin Classics, 2002.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

Martin Luther

More information about this quote

Topic

Music

Speaker

Martin Luther

Author

Georg Rhau

Source

Symphoniae iucundae

Language

German

Time

1538 1530s 16th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Luther, Martin. Quoted in Symphoniae Iucundae Atque Adeo Breves Quatuor Vocum, written by Georg Rhau. Wittenberg, 1538, preface.

Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.

Immanuel Kant

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

More information about this quote

Topic

How to live

Author

Immanuel Kant

Source

Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

German

Time

1785 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten [Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals]. Riga: J. F. Hartknoch, 1785.

Current Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Mary Gregor and Jes Timmermann. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Love is to me that you are the knife which I turn within myself.

Franz Kafka

More information about this quote

Topic

Dangers of love Love

Author

Franz Kafka

Source

Letters of Franz Kafka

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1920 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Kafka, Franz. Letter to Milena Jesenská. 14 Sept. 1920.

Current Citation

Kafka, Franz. "Letter to Milena Jesenská, 14 Sept. 1920." Letters to Milena, translated by Philip Boehm. Schocken, 2015.

I by no means owe my works to my own wisdom alone, but to a thousand things and persons around me, who provided me with material.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

More information about this quote

Topic

Inspiration Creativity Influences

Speaker

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Language

German

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Conversion with Eckermann and Soret. c. 1832.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Conversations of Goethe with Eickermann and Soret, translated by John Oxenford. Da Capo Press, 1998.

I cannot tell my story without reaching a long way back.

Hermann Hesse

Demian

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Topic

Effects of the past Stories The past

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Demian

Medium

Novel

Genre

Coming of age story

Language

German

Time

1919 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend [Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth]. Fischer Verlag, 1919.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Demian, translated by Damion Searls. Penguin Classics, 2013.

Everywhere we remain unfree and chained to technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it.

Martin Heidegger

More information about this quote

Topic

Downsides of technology Technology

Author

Martin Heidegger

Source

The Question Concerning Technology

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Heidegger, Martin. Vorträge und Aufsätze. Garland Publishing, 1954.

Current Citation

Heidegger, Martin. "The Question Concerning Technology." The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Harper Perennial, 2013.

All religion, however, is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which control their daily life.

Friedrich Engels

Anti-Duhring

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Topic

Religion

Author

Friedrich Engels

Source

Anti-Duhring

Genre

Political literature Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Engels, Frederick. "Herrn Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft [Herr Eugen Dühring's Revolution in Science]." Vorwärts, 1878.

Current Citation

Engels, Frederick. "Anti-During." Karl Marx, Frederick Engels: Collected Works. Vol. 25, Int Pub Co Inc, 1987, pt. 3, ch. 5.

The symphony must be like the world; it must embrace everything.

Gustav Mahler

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Topic

Symphony Music

Speaker

Gustav Mahler

Source

Letters of Gustav Mahler

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1907 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Mahler, Gustav. Quoted in Jean Sibelius: His Life and Personality, written by Karl Ekman. Alan Wilmer, 1936.

Maximilien Robespierre was nothing but the hand of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the bloody hand that drew from the womb of time the body whose soul Rousseau had created.

Heinrich Heine

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Topic

French Revolution Power of ideas Politics is downstream of culture

Author

Heinrich Heine

Source

Germany After Luther

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1834 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Heine, Heinrich. "De l'Allemagne depuis Luther [Germany after Luther]." Revue des deux Mondes, Dec. 1834.

Current Citation

Heine, Heinrich. "On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany." On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany and Other Writings, translated by Howard Pollack-Milgate, edited by Terry Pinkard. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the great dance of death, to make something that lasts longer than we do.

Hermann Hesse

Narcissus and Goldmund

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Topic

Purpose of art Art

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Narcissus and Goldmund

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hesse, Herman. Narziß und Goldmund [Narcissus and Goldmund]. Fischer Verlag, 1930.

Current Citation

Hesse, Herman. Narcissus and Goldmund, translated by Ursule Molinaro. Bantam, 1984.

To put it in one word: I believe that Judaism knows nothing of revealed religion, in the sense in which this is understood by Christians. The Israelites possess divine legislation.

Moses Mendelssohn

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Topic

Christianity and Judaism Judaism

Author

Moses Mendelssohn

Language

German

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum [Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism]. Berlin: Friedrich Maurer, 1783.

Current Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism, translated by Allan Arkush. Brandeis University Press, 1983.