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If ye would go up high, then use your own legs! Do not get yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people's backs and heads!

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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Topic

Charting one's own path

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

German

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen [Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1885, pt. 4.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, edited by Robert Pippin, translated by Adrian Del Caro. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pt. 4.

The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.

G.W.F. Hegel

Philosophy of History

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Topic

Intellectual progress Nature of history

Author

G.W.F. Hegel

Source

Philosophy of History

Genre

Philosophical literature Historical literature

Language

German

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hegel, G. W. F. Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte [Lectures on the Philosophy of World History]. c. 1830, University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Current Citation

Hegel, G. W. F. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, translated by H. B. Nisbet. Cambridge University Press, 1981.

We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.

Sigmund Freud

Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

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Topic

Civilization

Author

Sigmund Freud

Source

Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Medium

Lecture

Genre

Psychological literature

Language

German

Time

1917 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Einführung in die Psychoanalyse [Introduction to Psychoanalysis]. 1915-1917, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, lecture 1. Lecture series.

Current Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. W. W. Norton & Company, 1977, lecture 1.

Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes a-begging.

Martin Luther

More information about this quote

Topic

Truth and error

Author

Martin Luther

Source

Table Talk (Luther)

Language

German

Time

1569 1560s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Luther, Martin. Tischreden [Table Talk]. Eisleben, 1566.

Current Citation

Luther, Martin. The Table Talk of Martin Luther, edited by Thomas S. Kepler. Dover Press, 2005.

Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life best.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Topic

Greece

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Language

German

Time

1819 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Individual Points." Ueber Kunst und Altersthum [On Art and Antiquity]. 1826, vol. 5, issue 3.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Maxims and Reflections, translated by Elizabeth Stopp, edited by Peter Hutchinson. Penguin Books, 2005, no. 298.

Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.

Karl Marx

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

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Topic

Free will Decisions and choices Effects of the past

Author

Karl Marx

Source

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Medium

Essay

Genre

Historical literature Political literature

Language

German

Time

1852 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Marx, Karl. "Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon [The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon]." Die Revolution [The Revolution], 1852.

Current Citation

Marx, Karl. "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon." The Political Writings, edited by David Fernbach. Verso, 2019.

Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Iphigenia in Tauris

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Topic

Mellowing with age Life lessons

Speaker

Pylades

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Iphigenia in Tauris

Medium

Play

Language

German

Time

1787 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Iphigenie auf Tauris [Iphigenia in Taurus]. 1779, Ducal private theater, Weimar, Germany, act 4, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Iphigenia in Tauris." Goethe: The Collected Works: Verse Plays and Epic, edited by Cyrus Hamlin and Frank Ryder. Vol. 8, Princeton University Press, 1995, act 4, sc. 4.

The ego's relation to the id might be compared with that of a rider to his horse. The horse supplies the locomotive energy, while the rider has the privilege of deciding on the goal and of guiding and powerful animal's movement. But only too often there arises between the ego and the id the not precisely ideal situation of the rider being obliged to guide the horse along the path by which it itself wants to go.

Sigmund Freud

New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

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Author

Sigmund Freud

Source

New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Genre

Psychological literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

German

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, translated by James Strachey. W. W. Norton & Company, 1990, lecture 31. Originally published as Neue Folge der Vorlesungen zur Einfuhrung in die Psychoanalyse [New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis]. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, 1933, lecture 31.

Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom.

Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha

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Topic

Knowledge Wisdom

Speaker

Siddhartha

Author

Hermann Hesse

Source

Siddhartha

Language

German

Time

1922 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha: Eine Indische Dichtung [Siddhartha: An Indian Poetry]. S. Fischer Verlag, 1922.

Current Citation

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha, translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Penguin Classics, 2002.

The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Elective Affinities

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Topic

Marriage

Speaker

Mittler

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. 1, ch. 9.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Elective Affinities, translated by David Constantine. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but-more frequently than not-struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.

Martin Luther

More information about this quote

Topic

Faith and reason Reason

Author

Martin Luther

Source

Table Talk (Luther)

Language

German

Time

1569 1560s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Luther, Martin. Tischreden [Table Talk]. Eisleben, 1566.

Current Citation

Luther, Martin. The Table Talk of Martin Luther, edited by Thomas S. Kepler. Dover Press, 2005.

Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.

Friedrich Schiller

The Maid of Orleans

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Topic

Stupidity

Speaker

Talbot

Author

Friedrich Schiller

Source

The Maid of Orleans

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1801 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Schiller, Friedrich. Die Jungfrau von Orleans [The Maid of Orleans]. 11 Sept 1801, Leipzig, Germany, act 3, sc. 6.

This war did not bear the characteristics of the previous conflicts among the European nations to which we were accustomed. To an ever increasing degree it began to be generally realized that the reasons for this conflict were no longer to be sought in the usual interests even if plausible of the various nations, but that in reality it was one of those elementary struggles which shaking the foundations of the world but once in a thousand years, introduce a new millennium.

Adolf Hitler

Speech to the Reichstag, April 26, 1942

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Topic

World War II

Speaker

Adolf Hitler

Source

Speech to the Reichstag, April 26, 1942

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

German

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Hitler, Adolf. Speech to the Reichstag. 26 Apr. 1942, Kroll Opera House, Berlin, Germany.

Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.

Karl Barth

More information about this quote

Topic

Conscience

Author

Karl Barth

Language

German

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Barth, Karl. "The Righteousness of God." Das Wort Gottes und die Theologie [The Word of God and Theology]. Mchn., Kaiser, 1924. Originally a lecture called "The Righteousness of God" delivered 16 Jan. 1916 in City Church, Aarau, Switzerland.

People are not always what they seem.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Nathan the Wise

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Topic

Appearance vs. reality

Speaker

Daya

Author

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Source

Nathan the Wise

Medium

Play

Language

German

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan der Weise [Nathan the Wise]. 14 Apr. 1783, Dobbelinsches Theatre, Berlin, Germany, act 1, sc. 6.

Current Citation

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan the Wise, translated by William Taylor. Dover Publications, 2015, act 1, sc. 6.

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.

Walter Benjamin

One Way Street

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Topic

Self-knowledge Happiness

Author

Walter Benjamin

Source

One Way Street

Language

German

Time

1979 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Benjamin, Walter. Einbahnstraße [One Way Street]. Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, 1928.

Current Citation

Benjamin, Walter. One-Way Street, translated by Edmund Jephcott, edited by Michael W. Jennings. Belknap Press, 2016.

Submit to me as soon as possible a draft showing... Measures already taken for the execution of the intended final solution of the Jewish question.

Hermann Goring

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Topic

The Holocaust

Author

Hermann Goring

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goering, Hermann. Directive to Reinhard Heydrich. 31 July 1941.

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century beings it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.

Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain

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Topic

Nature of time

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.

One must have chaos inside oneself to give birth to a dancing star.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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Topic

Inner turmoil Genius Creativity

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1883 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen [Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1883, pt. 1.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, edited by Robert Pippin, translated by Adrian Del Caro. Cambridge University Press, 2006, pt. 1.

Who strives always to the utmost,
For him there is salvation.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Going for it Doing one's best

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 5.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust: Part Two, translated by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 5.