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Now every tradition grows continually more venerable, the farther off lies its origin, the more this is lost sight of; the veneration paid it accumulates from generation to generation, the tradition at last becomes holy and excites awe.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Human, All Too Human

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Topic

Tradition

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Human, All Too Human

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches: Ein Buch für freie Geister [Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeizner, 1878, second division, no. 96.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, translated by Marion Faber and Stephen Lehmann. University of Nebraska Press, 1984, second division, no. 96.

He who doesn't see his lover's faults as virtues is not in love.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Topic

Being in love

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Language

German

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Spruche in Prosa Maximen und Reflexionen [Sayings in Prose, Maxims and Reflections]. c. 1840, no. 843.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Maxims and Reflections, translated by Elizabeth Stopp, edited by Peter Hutchinson. Penguin Books, 2005, no. 843.

Men have gained control over the forces of nature to such an extent that with their help they could have no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man. They know this, and hence comes a large part of their current unrest, their unhappiness and their mood of anxiety.

Sigmund Freud

Civilization and Its Discontents

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Topic

Downsides of technology

Author

Sigmund Freud

Source

Civilization and Its Discontents

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Das Unbehagen in der Kultur [The Discomfort in Culture]. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag Wien, 1930, pt. 8.

Current Citation

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, translated by James Strachey. W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, pt. 8.

The mad mob does not ask how it could be better, only that it be different. And when it then becomes worse, it must change again. Thus they get bees for flies, and at last hornets for bees.

Martin Luther

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Topic

The mob The masses

Author

Martin Luther

Language

German

Time

1526 1520s 16th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Luther, Martin. Ob Kriegesleute auch in seligem Stande sein können [Whether Soldiers Can Also Be in a State of Grace]. c. 1526.

Current Citation

Luther, Martin. "Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved." Works of Martin Luther, translated by C. M. Jacobs. Vol. 5, Baker Book House, 1982.

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Philosophical Investigations

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Topic

Human body Body and soul

Author

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Source

Philosophical Investigations

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophische Untersuchungen [Philosophical Investigations]. Suhrkamp, 1953, pt. 2.

Current Citation

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, et. al., edited by P. M. S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte. Wiley Blackwell, 2009, pt. 2.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.

Albert Einstein

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Topic

The mysterious Awe Wonder Creativity

Author

Albert Einstein

Source

What I Believe. Living Philosophies 13 Forum and Century

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

German

Time

1930 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Einstein, Albert. "What I Believe. Living Philosophies 13." Forum and Century, Oct. 1930, vol. 84, issue 4, pp. 193-194.

To know of someone here and there whom we accord with, who is living on with us even in silence-this makes our earthly ball a peopled garden.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

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Topic

Connection

Speaker

Therese

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

Medium

Novel

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. 7, ch. 5.

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. 7, ch. 5.

The public seldom forgive twice.

Johann Kasper Lavater

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Topic

Public opinion Second chances

Author

Johann Kasper Lavater

Language

German

Time

1773 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lavater, Johann Caspar. Aphorisms of Man. London: J. Johnson, 1788, no. 606.

Current Citation

Lavater, Johann Caspar. "Annotations to Lavater's Aphorisms on Man." The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, edited by David Erdman. University of California Press, 2008.

Death is the side of life which is turned away from us.

Rainer Maria Rilke

More information about this quote

Topic

Mystery of death Death

Author

Rainer Maria Rilke

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1925 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letter to Witold von Hulewicz. 13 Nov. 1925.

Current Citation

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1910-1926, translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M. D. Herter Norton. W. W. Norton & Company, 1969.

God made integers, all else is the work of man.

Leopold Kronecker

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Topic

Mathematics

Speaker

Leopold Kronecker

Medium

Lecture

Language

German

Time

1886 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Kronecker, Leopold. Berliner Naturforscher-Versammlung im Jahre. 1886, Berlin, Germany. Lecture.

I am convinced that a person doesn't only love himself in others, he also hates himself in others.

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Relationships

Author

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Medium

Personal journal

Language

German

Time

1779 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph. Journal "F." c. 1779.

Current Citation

Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph. "Notebook F 1776-1779." The Waste Books, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. NYRB Classics, 2000.

A man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine.

Arthur Schopenhauer

What a Man Is

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Topic

Philistinism

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.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

The Great Wall of China

More information about this quote

Topic

Stillness Paying attention

Author

Franz Kafka

Source

The Great Wall of China

Medium

Short story

Language

German

Time

1931 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kafka, Franz. Betrachtungen über Sünde, Leid, Hoffnung und den wahren Weg [Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way]. Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1931, no. 109.

Eternal peace is a dream, and not even a beautiful one, and war is a link in God's world order. In him, the noblest virtues of man, courage and renunciation, devotion to duty and willingness to sacrifice, unfold with the institution of life. Without the war, the world would become bogged down in materialism.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

More information about this quote

Topic

Praise of war War

Author

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Medium

Letter

Language

German

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Von Moltke, Helmuth. Letter to Johann Caspar Bluntschli. 11 Dec. 1880.

We take almost all the decisive steps in our lives as a result of slight inner adjustments of which we are barely conscious.

W.G. Sebald

Austerlitz

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Topic

Inflection points

Author

W.G. Sebald

Source

Austerlitz

Medium

Novel

Language

German

Time

2001 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sebald, Winfried Georg. Austerlitz. C. Hanser, 2001.

Not one of us knows what effect his life produces, and what he gives to others; that is hidden from us and must remain so, though we are often allowed to see some little fraction of it, so that we may not lose courage.

Albert Schweitzer

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all people

Author

Albert Schweitzer

Source

Memoirs of Childhood and Youth

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

German

Time

1949 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Schweitzer, Albert. Aus Meiner Kindheit und Jugendzeit [Memoirs of Childhood and Youth]. C. H. Beck, 1924.

Current Citation

Scweitzer, Albert. Memoirs of Childhood and Youth, translated by Kurt Bergel and Alice R. Bergel. Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Two souls dwell, alas! in my breast.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Divided self

Speaker

Faust

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Faust

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. "Vor dem Thor [Before the Gate]." Faust. Eine Tragödie [Faust: A Tragedy]. Tübingen: J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, 1808.

The deed is all, the glory nothing.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Accomplishment Glory

Speaker

Faust

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source

Faust

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play) Tragedy

Language

German

Time

1832 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wofgang. Faust. Der Tragödie zweiter Teil [Faust. The Tragedy's Second Part]. 1832, act 4, sc. 1.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust: Part 2, translated by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 4, sc. 1.

Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Human, All Too Human

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Topic

Convictions Beliefs Truth and lies Truth Lies

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Source

Human, All Too Human

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

German

Time

1878 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches: Ein Buch für freie Geister [Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeizner, 1878, ninth divison, aphorism 483.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, translated by Marion Faber and Stephen Lehmann. University of Nebraska Press, 1984, ninth divison, aphorism 483.

Law is mighty, mightier necessity.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust

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Topic

Law and necessity

Speaker

Plutus

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 1, sc. 3.

Current Citation

Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust: Part Two, translated by David Luke. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 1, sc. 3.