James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Schiller
A bitter and perplex’d “What shall I do?” is worse to man than worst necessity.
A deep meaning resides in old customs.
A jest loses its point when he who makes it is the first to laugh.
A noble heart will frankly capitulate to reason.
A virtuous name is the sole precious good for which queens and peasants’ wives must contest together.
Ach wie glücklich sind die Todten!—Ah! how happy the dead are!
Ach! es geschehen keine Wunder mehr—Alas! there are no more any miracles.
Ach! vielleicht indem wir hoffen / Hat uns Unheil getroffen—Ah! perhaps while we are hoping, mischief has already overtaken us.
Ah me! how sweet this world is to the dying!
All strong souls are related.
Alle anderen Dinge müssen; der Mensch ist das Wesen, welches will—All other things must; man is the only creature who wills.
Allen gehört, was du denkest; dein eigen ist nur, was du fühlest—What you think belongs to all; only what you feel is your own.
Alles zu retten, muss alles gewagt werden—To save all, we must risk all.
Allmächtig ist doch das Gold; auch Mohren kann’s bleichen—Gold is omnipotent; it can make even the Moor white.
Allzustraff gespannt, zerspringt der Bogen—If the bow is overstrained, it breaks.
Always strive for the whole; and if thou canst not become a whole thyself, connect thyself with a whole as a ministering member.
Any road will lead you to the end of the world.
Apollo himself confessed it was ecstasy to be a man among men.
Arm in Arm mit dir. / So fordr’ ich mein Jahrhundert in die Schranken—Arm in arm with thee, I defy the century to gainsay me.
Art thou afraid of death, and dost thou wish to live for ever? Live in the whole that remains when thou hast long been gone (wenn du lange dahin bist).
Auch aus entwölkter Höhe Kann der zündende Donner schlagen; / Darum in deinen fröhlichen Tagen, Fürchte des Unglücks tückische Nähe—Even out of a cloudless heaven the flaming thunderbolt may strike; therefore in thy days of joy have a fear of the spiteful neighbourhood of misfortune.
Auch das Schöne muss sterben—Even what is beautiful must die.
Auch die Kunst ist Himmelsgabe, / Borgt sie gleich von ird’scher Glut—Art is a gift of Heaven, yet does it borrow its fire from earthly passion.
Auf den Bergen ist Freiheit—On the mountains is freedom.
Auf Dinge, die nicht mehr zu ändern sind, / Muss auch kein Blick zurück mehr fallen! Was / Gethan ist, ist gethan und bleibt’s—On things which are no more to be changed a backward glance must be no longer cast! What is done is done, and so remains.
Aus dem Leben heraus sind der Wege drei dir geöffnet, / Zum Ideale führt einer, der andre zum Tod—Two ways are open for thee out of life; one conducts to the ideal, the other to death.
Aus der schlechtesten Hand kann Wahrheit noch mächtig wirken; / Bei dem Schönen allein macht das Gefass den Gehalt—Truth may work mightily though in the hand of the sorriest instrument; in the case of the beautiful alone the casket constitutes the jewel (lit. the vessel makes the content).
Be in possession, and thou hast the right, and sacred will the many guard it for thee.
Besiegt von einem, ist besiegt von allen—Overpowered by one is overpowered by all.
Better an end with terror than a terror without end.
Bezwingt des Herzens Bitterkeit. Es bringt / Nicht gute Frucht, wenn Hass dem Hass begegnet—Control the heart’s bitterness. Nothing good comes of returning hatred for hatred.
Bleib nicht allein, denn in der Wüste trat / Der Satansengel selbst dem Herrn des Himmels—Remain not alone, for it was in the desert that Satan came to the Lord of Heaven himself.
Da die Götter menschlicher noch waren, / Waren Menschen göttlicher—When the gods were more human, men were more divine.
Dachtet ihr, der Löwe schliefe, well er nicht brüllte?—Did you think the lion was sleeping because it did not roar?
Das Alte stürzt, es ändert sich die Zeit, / Und neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen—The old falls, the time changes, and new life blossoms out of the ruins.
Das Alter der göttlichen Phantasie / Es ist verschwunden, es kehret nie—The age of divine fantasy is gone, never to return.
Das Geheimniss ist für die Glücklichen—Mystery is for the favoured of fortune.
Das Gesetz ist der Freund des Schwachen—Law is the protector of the weak.
Das Herz und nicht die Meinung ehrt den Mann—It is his heart, and not his opinion, that is an honour to a man.
Das Jahrhundert / Ist meinem Ideal nicht reif. Ich lebe / Ein Bürge derer, welche kommen werden—The century is not ripe for my ideal; I live as an earnest of those that are to come.
Das Leben ist nur ein Moment, der Tod ist auch nur einer—Life is but a moment, death also is but another.
Das schwere Herz wird nicht durch Worte leicht—Words bring no relief to a saddened heart.
Das Universum ist ein Gedanke Gottes—The universe is a thought of God.
Das Verhängte muss geschehen, / Das Gefürchte muss nahn—The fated must happen; the feared must draw near.
Das Wort ist frei, die That ist stumm, der Gehorsam blind—The word is free, action dumb, obedience blind.
Day follows the murkiest night; and when the time comes, the latest fruits also ripen.
Den schlecten Mann muss man verachten / Der nie bedacht was er vollbringt—We must spurn him as a worthless man who never applies his brains to what he is working at.
Der brave Mann denkt an sich selbst zuletzt—The brave man thinks of himself last of all.
Der kann nicht klagen über harten Spruch, den man zum Meister seines Schicksals macht—He cannot complain of a hard sentence who is made master of his own fate.
Der Lebende hat Recht—The living has right on his side.
Der Mann muss hinaus ins feindliche Leben—A man must go forth to face life with its enmities.
Der Mensch ist ein nachahmendes Geschöpf und wer der vorderste ist, führt die Herde—Man is an imitative being, and the foremost leads the flock.
Der Mensch ist frei geschaffen, ist frei, / Und würd’ er in Ketten geboren!—Man has been created free, is free, even were he born in chains.
Der Mensch versuche die Götter nicht—Let not man tempt the gods.
Der Ring macht Ehen, / Und Ringe sind’s, die eine Kette machen—The ring makes marriage, and rings make a chain.
Der Schein regiert die Welt, und die Gerechtigkeit ist nur auf der Bühne—Appearance rules the world, and we see justice only on the stage.
Der Tod entbindet von erzwungnen Pflichten—Death releases from enforced duties.
Der Wahn ist kurz, die Reu’ ist lang—The illusion is brief, the remorse is long.
Der Weg der Ordnung, ging er auch durch Krümmen, / Er ist kein Umweg—The path which good order prescribes is the direct one, even though it has windings.
Der Zug des Herzens ist des Schicksals Stimme—In the drawing of the heart is the oracle of fate.
Des Menschen Engel ist die Zeit—Time is man’s angel.
Did I know that my heart was bound to temporal possessions, I would throw the flaming brand among them with my own hand.
Die Fabel ist der Liebe Heimatwelt, / Gern wohnt sie unter Feen, Talismanen, / Glaubt gern an Götter, weil sie göttlich ist—Fable is love’s native world, is fain to dwell among fairies and talismans, and to believe in gods, being herself divine.
Die Ideale sind zerronnen, / Die einst das trunkne Herz geschwellt—The ideals are all melted into air which once swelled the intoxicated heart.
Die Kirche ist’s, die heilige, die hohe, / Die zu dem Himmel uns die Leiter baut—The Church, the holy, the high, it is that rears for us the ladder to heaven.
Die Klugheit sich zur Führerin zu wählen / Das ist es, was den Weisen macht—It is the choice of prudence for his guide that makes the wise man.
Die Leidenschaft flieht, / Die Liebe muss bleiben; / Die Blume verblüht, / Die Frucht muss treiben—Passion takes flight, love must abide; the flower fades, the fruit must ripen.
Die letzte Wahl steht auch dem Schwächsten offen; / Ein Sprung von dieser Brücke macht mich frei—The last choice of all is open even to the weakest; a leap from this bridge sets me free.
Die Liebe ist der Liebe Preis—Love is the price of love.
Die Natur ist ein unendlich geteilter Gott—Nature is an infinitely divided God.
Die Rachegötter schaffen im Stillen—The gods of vengeance act in silence.
Die treue Brust des braven Manns allein ist ein sturmfester Dach in diesen Zeiten—The loyal heart of the good man is in these times the only storm-proof place of shelter.
Die Unschuld hat im Himmel einen Freund—Innocence has a friend in heaven.
Die wankelmüt’ge Menge, / Die jeder Wind herumtreibt! Wehe dem, / Der auf dies Rohr sich lehnet—The fickle mob, how they are driven round by every wind that blows! Woe to him who leans on this reed!
Die Welt ist vollkommen überall, / Wo der Mensch nicht hinkommt mit seiner Qual—The world is all perfect except where man comes with his burden of woe.
Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht—The history of the world is the judgment of the world.
Dir war das Unglück eine strenge Schule—Misfortune was for thee a hard school.
Egotism erects its centre in itself; love places it out of itself in the axis of the universal whole.
Ehret die Frauen! Sie flechten und weben / Himmlische Rosen ins irdische Leben—Honour to the women! they plait and weave roses of heaven for the life of earth.
Ein üppig lastervolles Leben büsst sich / In Mangel und Erniedrigung allem—Only in want and degradation can a life of sensual profligacy be atoned for.
Ein Augenblick, gelebt im Paradiese, / Wird nicht zu theuer mit dem Tod gebüsst—A moment lived in paradise is not purchased too dearly at the ransom of death.
Ein Diadem erkämpfen ist gross; es wegwerfen ist göttlich—To gain a crown by fighting for it is great; to reject it is divine.
Ein Gott ist, ein heiliger Wille lebt, / Wie auch der menschliche wanke; / Hoch über der Zeit und dem Raume webt / Lebendig der höchste Gedanke—A god is, a holy will lives, however man’s will may waver; high over all time and space the highest thought weaves itself everywhere into life’s web.
Ein jeder Wechsel schreckt den Glücklichen—Every change is a cause of uneasiness to the favoured of fortune.
Ein mächtiger Vermittler ist der Tod—Death is a powerful reconciler.
Ein offenes Herz zeigt eine offene Stirn—An open brow shows an open heart.
Ein Tropfen Hass, der in dem Freudenbecher / Zurückbleibt, macht den Segensdrank zum Gifte—A drop of hate that is left in the cup of joy converts the blissful draught into poison.
Ein Wort nimmt sich, ein Leben nie zurück—A word may be recalled, a life never.
Eine grosse Epoche hat das Jahrhundert geboren; / Aber der grosse Moment findet ein kleines Geschlecht—The century has given birth to a great epoch, but it is a small race the great moment appeals to.
Equality (i.e., in essential nature) is the sacred law of humanity.
Er hat noch nie die Stimme der Natur gehört—He has not yet heard the voice of Nature.
Ernst ist das Leben; heiter ist die Kunst—Life is earnest; art is serene.
Ernst ist der Anblick der Nothwendigkeit. / Nicht ohne Schauder greift des Menschen Hand / In des Geschicks geheimnissvolle Urne—Earnest is the aspect of necessity. Not without a shudder is the hand of man thrust into the mysterious urn of fate.
Ertragen muss man was der Himmel sendet. / Unbilliges erträgt kein edles Herz—We must bear what Heaven sends. No noble heart will bear injustice.
Es ist der Geist, der sich den Körper baut—It is the spirit which builds for itself the body.
Es ist unköniglich zu weinen—ach, / Und hier nicht weinen ist unväterlich—To weep is unworthy of a king—alas! and not to weep now is unworthy of a father.
Es kommen Fälle vor im Menschenleben, / Wo’s Weisheit ist, nicht allzu weise sein—There are situations in life when it is wisdom not to be too wise.
Es leben Götter, die den Hochmut rächen—There live gods who take vengeance on pride.
Es liebt die Welt das Strahlende zu schwätzen, / Und das Erhabne in den Staub zu ziehn—The world is fain to obscure what is brilliant, and to drag down to the dust what is exalted.
Es reift keine Seligkeit unter dem Monde—No happiness ever comes to maturity under the moon.
Es schwinden jedes Kummers Falten / So lang des Liebes Zauber walten—The wrinkles of every sorrow disappear as long as the spell of love is unbroken.
Eternity of being and well-being simply for being and well-being’s sake, is an ideal belonging to appetite alone, and which only the struggle of mere animalism (Thierheit), longing to be infinite gives rise to.
Even in a righteous cause force is a fearful thing; God only helps when men can help no more.
Even weak men when united are powerful.
Ever take it for granted that man collectively wishes that which is right; but take care never to think so of one!
Every crime has in the moment of its perpetration its own avenging angel.
Every great mind seeks to labour for eternity. All men are captivated by immediate advantages; great minds alone are excited by the prospect of distant good.
Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us.
Every one is judge of what a man seems, no one of what a man is.
Every other master is known by what he utters; the master of style commends himself to me by what he wisely passes over in silence.
Für seinen König muss das Volk sich opfern, / Das ist das Schicksal und das Gesetz der Welt—For its chief must the clan sacrifice itself; that is the destiny and law of the world.
Falsch ist das Geschlecht der Menschen—False is the race of men.
Fate hath no voice but the heart’s impulses.
Fear not the confusion (Verwirrung) outside of thee, but that within thee; strive after unity, but seek it not in uniformity; strive after repose, but through the equipoise, not through the stagnation (Stillstand), of thy activity.
Feindlich ist die Welt / Und falsch gesinnt; Es liebt ein jeder nur / Sich selbst—Hostile is the world, and falsely disposed. In it each one loves himself alone.
Forgiveness is the divinest of victories.
Foster the beautiful, and every hour thou callest new flowers to birth.
Frauen, richtet nur nie des Mannes einzelne Thaten; / Aber über den Mann sprechet das richtende Wort—Women, judge ye not the individual acts of the man; the word that pronounces judgment is above the man.
Freedom exists only with power.
Freedom is only in the land of dreams, and the beautiful only blooms in song.
Frei von Tadel zu sein ist der niedrigste Grad und der höchste, / Denn nur die Ohnmacht führt oder die Grösse dazu—To be free from blame is to be of the lowest and highest grade, for only imbecility or greatness leads to it.
Freude hat mir Gott gegeben—God has to me given joy.
Friends show me what I can do; foes teach me what I should do.
Futurity is impregnable to mortal kin; no prayer pierces through heaven’s adamantine walls.
Göttern kann man nicht vergelten; / Schön ist’s, ihnen gleich zu sein—We cannot recompense the gods; beautiful it is to be like them.
Gefährlich ist’s ein Mordgewehr zu tragen / Und auf den Schützen springt der Pfeil zurück—It is dangerous to carry a murderous weapon, and the arrow rebounds on the archer.
Gefährlich ist’s, den Leu zu wecken, / Verderblich ist des Tigers Zahn; / Jedoch der schrecklichste der Schrecken, / Das ist der Mensch in seinem Wahn—Dangerous it is to rouse the lion, fatal is the tiger’s tooth, but the most frightful of terrors is man in his self-delusion.
Genius ever stands with nature in solemn union, and what the one foretells the other will fulfil.
Genius is ever the greatest mystery to itself.
Gewalt ist die beste Beredsamkeit—Power is the most persuasive rhetoric.
Giebt’s schönre Pflichten für ein edles Herz / Als ein Verteidiger der Unschuld sein, / Das Recht der unterdrückten zu beschirmen?—What nobler task is there for a noble heart than to take up the defence of innocence and protect the rights of the oppressed?
Give pleasure to the few; to please many is vain.
Gleichheit ist das heilige Gesetz der Menschheit—Equality is the holy law of humanity.
Gott hilft nur dann, wenn Menschen nicht mehr helfen—God comes to our help only when there is no more help for us in man.
Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.
Great minds seek to labour for eternity. All other men are captivated by immediate advantages; great minds are excited by the prospect of distant good.
Great souls endure in silence.
Grosse Seelen dulden still—Great souls endure in silence.
Gutes aus Gutem, das kann jedweder Verständige bilden; / Aber der Genius ruft Gutes aus Schlechtem hervor—Good out of good is what every man of intellect can fashion, but it takes genius to evoke good out of bad.
Hab’ mich nie mit Kleinigkeiten abgegeben—I have never occupied myself with trifles.
Happy child! the cradle is still to thee an infinite space; once grown into a man, and the boundless world will be too small to thee.
Hart kann die Tugend sein, doch grausam nie, / unmenschlich nie—Virtue may be stern, though never cruel, never inhuman.
He is a madman (Rasender) who does not embrace and hold fast the good fortune which a god (ein Gott) has given into his hand.
He who considers too much will accomplish little.
He who fears nothing is not less powerful than he whom all fear.
He who has done enough for the welfare (den Besten) of his own time has lived for all times.
He who thinks too much will accomplish little.
Hectors Liebe stirbt im Lethe nicht—Hector’s love does not perish in the flood of Lethe.
Herrenlos ist auch der Freiste nicht—Even the most emancipated is not without a master.
Hier ist keine Heimat—Jeder treibt / Sich an dem andern rasch und fremd vortüber, / Und fragt nicht nach seinem Schmerz—Here is no home for a man: every one drives past another hastily and unneighbourly, and inquires not after his pain.
Hilft Gott uns nicht, kein Kaiser kann uns helfen—God helps us not; no emperor can.
How shall we know whether you are in earnest, if the deed does not accompany the word?
Howsoever thou actest, let heaven be moved with thy purpose; let the aim of thy deeds traverse the axis of the earth.
Human action is a seed of circumstances (Verhängnissen) scattered in the dark land of the future and hopefully left to the powers that rule human destiny.
Ich denke so: / Was nicht zusammen kann / Bestehen, ist am besten sich zu lösen—In my regard ’twere best throw that into the pot which can no longer hold itself together.
Ich habe genossen das irdische Glück; / Ich habe gelebt und geliebet—I have experienced earthly happiness; I have lived and I have loved.
Ich habe gethan, was ich nicht lassen konnte—I have done what I could not get done.
Ich habe hier blos ein Amt und keine Meinung—I hold here an office merely, and no opinion.
Ich thue recht und scheue keinen Feind—I do the right and fear no foe.
Immer wird, nie ist—Always a-being, never being.
In a narrow circle the mind grows narrow; the more a man expands, the larger his aims.
In days of yore nothing was holy but the beautiful.
In der Noth allein / Bewähret sich der Adel grosser Seele—In difficulty alone does the nobility of great souls prove itself.
In the field none other can supply our place, each must stand alone,—on himself must rely.
In the smallest cottage there is room enough for two lovers.
In thy breast are the stars of thy fate.
Innocence has a friend in heaven.
It is a kindly spirit which actually constitutes the human element in man.
It is a very risky, nay, a fatal thing, to be sociable.
It is not enough that a poet possess inspiration; his inspiration must be that of a cultured spirit.
It is often even wise to reveal what cannot long remain concealed.
It is only strict precision of thought that confers facility of expression.
It is the monotony of his own nature that makes solitude intolerable to a man.
Ja, der Krieg verschlingt die Besten!—Yes, war swallows up the best people!
Ja, grosse Männer werden stets verfolgt, / Und kommen immer in Verlegenheiten—Yes, great men are always subject to persecution, and always getting into straits.
Jede Unthat, / Trägt ihren eignen Racheengel schon, / Die bôse Hoffnung unter ihrem Herzen—Every evil deed already bears its own avenging angel, the dread of evil, in the heart of it.
Jeden anderen Meister erkennt man an dem, was er ausspricht; was er weiss, verschweigt, zeigt mir den Meister des Styls—Every other master may be known by what he expresses; what he wisely suppresses reveals to me the master of style.
Jeder freut sich seiner Stelle, / Bietet dem Verächter Trutz—Every one is proud of his office, and bids defiance to the scorner.
Jeder, sieht man ihn einzeln, ist leidlich klug und verständig; / Sind sie in corpori, gleich wird euch ein Dummkopf daraus—Every man, as we see him singly, is tolerably wise and intelligent; but see him in a corporate capacity, and you think him a born blockhead and fool.
Jedwede Tugend / Ist fleckenrein bis auf den Augenblick / Der Probe—Every virtue is stainless up to the moment of trial.
Jetzt giebt es keine Riesen mehr; Gewalt / Ist für den Schwachen jederzeit ein Riese—There are no more any giants now; for the weak, force is a giant at all times.
Joy is the mainspring in the whole round of universal Nature; joy moves the wheels of the great timepiece of the world; she it is that loosens flowers from their buds, suns from their firmaments, rolling spheres in distant space not seen by the glass of the astronomer.
Kann ich Armeen aus der Erde stampfen? / Wächst mir ein Kornfeld in der flachen Hand?—Can I stamp armies out of the earth? Does a field of corn grow on the palm of my hand?
Kannst du nicht allen gefallen durch deine That und dein Kunstwerk: / Mach’ es wenigen recht; vielen gefallen ist schlimm—If thou canst not by thy act or thy art please every one, be it thy endeavour to please a few; to attempt to please many is naught.
Kein Bündniss ist mit dem Gezücht der Schlangen—No covenant is to be made with the serpent’s brood.
Kein Kaiser hat dem Herzen vorzuschreiben—No emperor has power to dictate to the heart.
Keine Gaukelkunst berückt / Das Flammenauge, das ins Innere blickt—By no juggler’s art can you beguile the eye of fire which glances into the inner soul of things.
Kings are but the slaves of their position; they dare not follow what their own hearts dictate.
Knowledge is to one a goddess, to another only an excellent cow.
Kraft erwart’ ich vora Mann, des Gesetzes Würde behaupt’ er; / Aber durch Anmuth allein herrschet und herrsche das Weib—I look for power in the man; he affirms the dignity of the law; but the woman rules, and will continue to rule, through grace alone.
Krieg ist ewig zwischen List und Argwohn, / Nur zwischen Glauben und Vertraun ist Friede—War is unending between cunning and mistrust; only between faith and trust is there peace.
Kunst ist die rechte Hand der Natur. Diese hat nur Geschöpfe, jene hat Menschen gemacht—Art is the right hand of Nature. The latter has made only creatures, the former has made men.
Kurz ist der Schmerz, und ewig ist die Freude!—Short is the pain and eternal the joy!
Labour is the ornament of the citizen; the reward of toil is when you confer blessings on others; his high dignity confers honour on the king; be ours the glory of our hands.
Lasst uns hell denken, so werden wir feurig lieben—Let us think clearly, we shall love ardently.
Law, man’s sole guardian ever since the day when the old brazen age in sadness saw love fly the world.
Leben athme die bildende Kunst, / Geist fordr’ ich vom Dichter—Let painting and sculpture breathe life; it is spirit itself I require of the poet.
Leben heisst träumen; weise sein heisst angenehm träumen—To live is to dream, to be wise is to dream agreeably.
Let no man measure by a scale of perfection the meagre product of reality.
Let not man tempt the gods, or ever desire to pry into what they graciously conceal under a veil of darkness or terror.
Let us not strive to rise too high, that we may not fall too low.
Liberty, with all its drawbacks, is everywhere vastly more attractive to a noble soul than good social order without it, than society like a flock of sheep, or a machine working like a watch. This mechanism makes of man only a product; liberty makes him the citizen of a better world.
Liebe kennt der allein, der ohne Hoffnung liebt—He alone knows what love is who loves without hope.
Life is not the supreme good; but of all earthly ills the chief is guilt.
Live with thy century, but be not its creature; produce for thy contemporaries, however, what they need, not what they applaud.
Männer richten nach Gründen; des Weibes Urteil ist seine Liebe; wo es nicht liebt, hat schon gerichtet das Weib—Men judge on rational grounds; the woman’s judgment is her love; where the woman does not love, she has judged.
Mach’ es Wenigen recht: Vielen gefallen ist schlimm—Be content to please a few; to please many is bad.
Man is an imitative creature, and whoever is foremost leads the herd.
Man is created free, is free, even if he were born in chains.
Man is made great or little by his own will.
Man kann den Menschen nicht verwehren, / Zu denken, was sie wollen—There is no hindering people from thinking what thoughts they like.
Man kann nicht wider sein Geshick—There is no striving against one’s fate.
Man löst sich nicht allmählich von dem Leben!—It is by no gradual process we detach ourselves from (lose our hold of) life.
Man soll die Stimmen wägen und nicht zählen—Votes ought to be weighed, not counted.
Man, living, feeling man, is the easy sport of the overmastering present.
Manche gingen nach Licht und stürzten in tiefere Nacht nur; sicher im Dämmerschein wandelt die Kindheit dahin—Many have gone in quest of light and fallen into deeper darkness; whereas childhood walks on secure in the twilight.
Measure not by a scale of perfection the meagre product of reality.
Mein Sohn, nichts in der Welt ist unbedeutend. / Das erste aber und Hauptsächlichste / Bei allem ird’schen Ding ist Ort und Stunde—My son, nothing in this world is without significance, but the first and most essential matter in every earthly thing is the place where and the hour when.
Men of great intellect live in the world without really belonging to it.
Mich hat mein Glaube nicht betrogen!—My faith has not betrayed me.
Mich schuf aus gröberm Stoffe die Natur, / Und zu der Erde zieht mich die Begierde—Out of coarser clay has Nature created me, and I am drawn by lust to the dust.
Mit dem Genius steht die Natur im ewigen Bunde! / Was der eine verspricht, leistet die andre gewiss—Nature stands in eternal league with genius; what the one promises the other as surely performs.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens—With stupidity the gods themselves fight in vain.
Modest humility is beauty’s crown, for the beautiful is a hidden thing, and shrinks from its own power.
Morgen können wir’s nicht mehr, / Darum lasst uns heute leben!—To-morrow is no longer in our power, therefore let us live to-day.
Nach Ehre geizt die Jugend; / Lass dich den Ehrgeiz nicht verführen—Youth is covetous of honour; let not this covetousness seduce thee.
Nacht muss es sein, wo Friedlands Sterne strahlen—It must be night where Friedland’s stars shine.
Naiv muss jedes wahre Genie sein, oder es ist keines—Every true genius must be natural, or it is none.
Nehmt die Gottheit auf in euren Willen, / Und sie steigt von ihrem Weltenthron—Take the divine up into your will, and she descends from her world-throne.
Neu Regiment bringt neue Menschen auf, / Und früheres Verdienst veraltet schnell—A new administration of affairs raises up new men, and qualifications formerly of service become soon antiquated.
Nicht an die Güter hänge dein Herz, / Die das Leben vergänglich zieren! / Wer besitzt, der lerne verlieren; / Wer im Glück ist, der lerne den Schmerz!—Let not thy heart cling to the things which for so short a time deck out thy life. Let him who has, learn to lose, and him who is happy, familiarise himself with what may give pain.
Nicht in die ferne Zeit verliere dich! / Den Augenblick ergreife, der ist dein—Lose not thyself in a far-off time. Seize thou the moment that is thine.
Nicht Rosen bloss, auch Dornen hat der Himmel—Heaven has not only its roses, but also its thorns.
Nichts führt zum Guten, was nicht natürlich ist—Nothing leads to good that is not natural.
Nichtswürdig ist die Nation, die nicht / Ihr Alles freudig setzt an ihre Ehre—Worthless is the nation that does not gladly stake its all on its honour.
Noch niemand entfloh dent verhängten Geschick—No one has yet evaded the fate allotted to him.
None shun the light but criminals and evil spirits.
Not without a shudder may a human hand clutch into the mysterious urn of destiny.
Nothing leads to good which is not natural.
Nothing on earth is without significance, but the first and most essential in every matter is the place where and the hour when.
Nur der Glaube aller stärkt den Glauben, / Wo Tausende anbeten und verehren, / Da wird die Glut zur Flamme, und beflügelt / Schwingt sich der Geist in alle Himmel auf—Only the faith of all strengthens faith; where thousands worship and reverence, there the glow becomes flame, and the spirit soar upwards on wings into all heavens.
Nur der Irrthum ist das Leben, / Und das Wissen ist der Tod—Only error is life, and knowledge is death.
Nur der Starke wird das Schicksal zwingen, / Wenn der Schwächling untersinkt—Only the strong man will coerce destiny if the weakling surrenders.
Nur Helios vermag’s zu sagen, / Der alles Irdische bescheint—Only Helios (the sun-god) can tell, he sheds light on every earthly thing.
Nur Liebe darf der Liebe Blume brechen—Only love may break the flower of love.
Nur vom Edeln kann das Edle stammen—Only from the noble soul can what is noble come.
Nur vom Nutzen wird die Welt regiert—It is only by show of advantage that the world is governed.
Nur zwei Tugenden giebt’s. O, wären sie immer vereinigt, / Immer die Güte auch gross, immer die Grösse auch gut!—There are only two virtues, were they but always united: goodness always also great, and greatness always also good.
O das Leben hat Reize, die wir nie gekannt—Oh, life has charms which we have never known.
O dass sie ewig’ grünen bliebe / Die schöne Zeit der jungen Liebe—Oh, that it remained for ever green, the fair season of early love.
O Gott! das Leben ist doch schön—O God! life is nevertheless beautiful.
O kaum bezwingen wir das eigne Herz; / Wie soll die rasche Jugend sich bezähmen!—Oh, we can hardly subdue our own heart; how shall impetuous youth restrain itself!
O nimm der Stunde wahr, eh’ sie entschlüpft. / So selten kommt der Augenblick im Leben / Der wahrhaft wichtig ist und gross—Take note of the hour ere it slips past; so seldom does the moment come which is truly fateful and great.
O wer weiss, / Was in der Zeiten Hintergrunde schlummert?—Oh, who knows what slumbers in the background of the times?
Obedience is woman’s duty on earth; hard endurance is her heavy lot; by severe service she must be purified; but she who has served here is great up yonder.
Oft kommt ein nützlich Wort aus schlechtem Munde—A serviceable word often issues from worthless lips.
Oft sogar es ist weise, zu entdecken, / Was nicht verschwiegen bleiben kann—It is often wise to disclose what cannot be concealed.
Ohne Wahl verteilt die Gaben, / Ohne Billigkeit das Glück; / Denn Patroklus liegt begraben, / Und Thersites kommt zurück—Gifts and dispensed without election, fortune without fairness; Patroclus lies buried, and Thersites comes back.
One drop of hatred left in the cup of joy turns the most blissful draught into poison.
One feels clearly that it is a kindly spirit which actually constitutes the human element in man.
Opposition always enflames the enthusiast, never converts him.
Peace is rarely denied to the peaceful.
Pegasus im Joche—Pegasus in harness.
People are rendered sociable by their inability to endure their own society.
Poetry ought to go straight to the heart, because it has come from the heart; and aim at the man in the citizen, and not the citizen in the man.
Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration, the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present.
Rascals are always sociable, and the test of a man’s nobility is the small pleasure he has in others’ society.
Rasch tritt der Tod den Menschen an, / Es ist ihm keine Frist gegeben, / Es stürzt ihn mitten in der Bahn, / Es reisst ihn fort vom vollen Leben. / Bereitet oder nicht; zu gehen, / Er muss vor seinen Richter stehen—Death of a sudden arrests his victim, man; there is no respite given; he falls upon him in midday, and tears him away when life is at the full. Ready to go or not, he must stand before his judge.
Rauch ist alles irdsche Wesen; / Wie des Dampfes Säule weht, / Schwinden alle Erdengrössen, / Nur die Götter bleiben stät—A vapour is all earthly existence; as a column of vapour it drifts along: vanish all earth’s great ones; only the gods remain stable.
Raum für alle hat die Erde—The earth is wide enough for all.
Raum ist in der kleinsten Hütte / Für ein glücklich liebend Paar—There is room in the smallest cottage for a happy loving pair.
Reason has done, what it can do, when it discovers and draws up the law; to execute this law is reserved for him who feels the obligation of it, and has the due firmness of purpose.
Rebellentreue ist wankend—Fidelity among rebels is unsteady.
Recht stets behält das Schicksal, denn das Herz, / In uns ist sein gebietrischer Vollzieher—Fate always carries its point, for the heart in us is its imperious executor.
Redlichkeit gedeiht in jedem Stande—Honesty prospers in every condition of life.
Revenge is barren of itself; itself is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its satiety despair.
Rigour pushed too far is sure to miss its aim, however good; as the bow snaps that is bent too stiffly.
Sahest du nie die Schönheit im Augenblicke des Leidens, / Niemals hast du die Schönheit gesehn. / Sahest du die Freude nie in einem schönen Gesichte, / Niemals hast du die Freude gesehn—If thou hast never seen beauty in the moment of suffering, thou hast never seen beauty at all. If thou hast never seen joy in a beautiful countenance, thou hast never seen joy at all.
Schön ist der Friede! Ein lieblicher Knabe / Liegt er gelagert am ruhigen Bach … / Aber der Krieg auch hat seine Ehre, / Der Beweger des Menschensgeschicks—Beautiful is Peace! A lovely boy lies he reclining by a quiet rill. But war too has its honour, the promoter as it is of the destiny of man.
Schwer ist es, aus dem Geschrei erhitzter Parteien die Stimme der Wahrheit zu unterscheiden—It is difficult to discriminate the voice of truth from amid the clamour raised by heated partisans.
Sei im Besitze, und du wohnst im Recht / Und heilig wird’s die Menge dir bewahren—Be in possession and thou hast the right, and the many will preserve it for thee as sacred.
Should not the ruler have regard to the voice of the people?
Should one suffer what is intolerable?
So stirbt ein Held, anbetungsvoll—So dies a hero to be worshipped.
Social order without liberty makes of man only a product; liberty makes him the citizen of a better world.
Stark est des Menschen Arm, wenn ihn Götter stützen—Strong is the arm of man if the gods uphold it.
Stets ist die Sprache kecker als die That—Speech is always bolder than action.
Teuer ist mir der Freund, doch auch den Feind kann ich nützen; / Zeigt mir der Freund, was ich kann, lehrt mich der Feind, was ich soll—Dear is to me the friend, yet can I make even my very foe do me a friend’s part. My friend shows me what I can do; my foe teaches me what I should do.
That State must sooner or later perish where the majority triumphs and unintelligence (Unverstand) decides.
The artist is the son of his age; but pity for him if he is its pupil, or even its favourite.
The brave man thinks of himself last of all.
The conceived is never food save to the mind that conceives.
The dilettante takes the obscure for the profound, violence for vigour, the indefinite for the infinite, and the senseless for the supersensuous.
The future comes on slowly, the present flies like an arrow, the past stands for ever still.
The gods in charity oft lend their strength to man.
The lamp of genius burns quicker than the lamp of life.
The last perfection of our faculties is that their activity, without ceasing to be sure and earnest, become sport.
The law is the friend of the weak.
The May of our life blooms once, and not again.
The nation is worth nothing which does not joyfully stake its all on its honour.
The There is never Here.
The universe is a thought of God.
The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.
The vulgar estimate themselves by what they do; the noble by what they are.
The word is always bolder than the deed.
The world is everywhere perfect except where man comes with his pain.
The world is fain to sully what is resplendent, and to drag down to the dust what is exalted.
The world is only governed by self-interest.
There are sorrows / Where of necessity the soul must be / Its own support.
There is no contingency, and what to us seems only blind chance is an efflux from the depths of being.
There is no solitude in nature.
There is no such thing as chance; and what seems to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
There occur cases in human life when it is wisdom not to be too wise.
Think with awe on the slow, the quiet power of time.
This century is not ripe for my ideal; I live a citizen of those that are to come.
This is the very curse of an evil deed, that it engenders and must bring forth more evil.
Time consecrates; and what is grey with age becomes religion.
Time incessantly hasteneth on; he seeks for perfection: if thou art true, thou canst cast fetters eternal on him.
Time is a wonder-working god. In one hour many thousand grains of sand run out, so quickly do thoughts stir in the minds of men.
’Tis only in the forehead Nature plants the watchful eye; the back, without defence, must find its shield in man’s fidelity.
’Tis only strict precision of thought that confers facility of expression.
’Tis only woman’s womanly beauty that makes a true queen; wherever she appears, and by her mere presence, she asserts her sovereignty.
’Tis when sovereigns build, carters are kept employed.
To escape from arrangements that tortured me, my heart sought refuge in the world of ideas, when as yet I was unacquainted with the world of realities, from which iron bars excluded me.At his training-school.
Übereilung thut nicht gut; / Bedachtsamkeit macht alle Dinge besser—Precipitation spoils everything; consideration improves everything.
Und bin ich strafbar, weil ich menschlich war? Ist Mitleid Sünde?—And am I to suffer for it because I was born a man? Is pity a sin?
Und der Mensch versuche die Götter nicht / Und begehre nimmer und nimmer zu schauen, / Was sie gnädig bedecken mit Nacht und Grauen—And let not man tempt the gods, and let him never, never desire to behold what they have graciously hid under a veil of night and terror.
Und vor der Wahrheit mächt’gem Siege / Verschwindet jedes Werk der Lüge—And before the mighty triumph of the truth, every work of lies will one day vanish.
Und was kein Verstand der Verständigen sieht / Das übet in Einfalt ein kindisch Gemüt—And what no intelligence of the intelligent sees, that is practised in simplicity by a childish mind.
Unser Gefühl für Natur gleicht der Empfindung des Kranken für die Gesundheit—Our feeling for nature is like the sensation of an invalid for health.
Unstät treiben die Gedanken / Auf dem Meer der Leidenschaft—Unsteady is the course of thought on the sea of passion.
Verachtung ist der wahre Tod—The true death is being treated with contempt.
Verbunden werden auch die Schwachen mächtig—Even the weak become strong when they are united.
Verstellung ist der offnen Seele fremd—Dissimulation is alien to the open soul.
Verzeihn ist leicht, allein vergessen schwer—To forgive is easy, but to forget hard.
Virtue may be stern, but never cruel, never inhuman.
Virtue, though clothed in a beggar’s garb commands respect.
Voll Weisheit sind des Schicksals Fügungen—Full of wisdom are the ordinations of Fate.
Vom sichern Port lässt sich’s gemächlich rathen—It is easy to give advice from a port of safety.
Von der Menschheit—du kannst von ihr nie gross genug denken; / Wie du im Busen sie trägst, prägst du in Thaten sie aus—Of humanity thou canst never think greatly enough; as thou bearest it in thy bosom, thou imprintest it in thy deeds.
Vor dem Glauben / Gilt keine Stimme der Natur—In matters of faith the voice of nature has no standing (before the Inquisition).
Vor dem Tode erschrickst du? Du wünchest unsterblich zu leben! / Leb’ im Ganzen! Wenn du lange dahin bist, es bleibt—Art thou afraid of death? Thou wishest for immortality? Live in the whole! When thou art long gone, it remains.
Vorwärts musst du / Denn rückwärts kannst du nun nicht mehr—Forwards must thou, for backwards canst thou now no more.
Votes should be weighed, not counted.
Wage du zu irren und zu träumen: / Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kind’schen Spiel—Dare to err and to dream; a deep meaning often lies in the play of a child.
Wahrheit gegen Freund and Feind—Truth in spite of friend and foe alike.
Wahrheit immer wird, nie ist—Truth always is a-being, never is.
War has no pity.
Was die heulende Tiefe da unten verhehle, / Das erzählt keine lebende glückliche Seele—What the howling deep down there conceals, no blessed living soul can tell.
Was die innere Stimme spricht / Das läuschet die hoffende Seele nicht—By what the inner voice speaks the trusting soul is never deceived.
Was Hände bauten, können Hände stürzen—What hands have built, hands can pull down.
Was hab’ ich mehr als meine Pflicht gethan? / Ein guter Mann wird stets das Bessre wählen—What have I done more than my duty? A good man will always select what is better.
Was nicht zusammen kann bestehen, thut am besten sich zu lösen—What cannot exist together had better separate.
Was soll der fürchten, der den Tod nicht fürchtet?—What shall he fear who does not fear death?
Was verschmerze nicht der Mensch?—What can man not put up with?
Was wir als Schönheit hier empfunden, / Wird einst als Wahrheit uns entgegengehn—What we have felt here as beauty will one day confront us as truth.
We must bear what Heaven sends us; no noble heart will bear injustice.
Wenn der Purpur fällt, muss auch der Herzog nach—If the purple goes, the duke must follow.
Wer der Vorderste ist, führt die Herde—The foremost leads the herd.
Wer nichts fürchtet, ist nicht weniger mächtiger, als der, den alles fürchtet—He who fears nothing is not less mighty than he whom everything fears.
What actually constitutes the human element in man is a kindly spirit.
What distinguishes Christianity from all monotheistic religions lies in nothing else than in a making-dead to the law, the removal of the Kantian imperative; instead of which Christianity requires a free inclination.
What hands build, hands can pull down.
What has never anywhere come to pass, that alone never grows old.
What is gray with age becomes religion.
What is the majority? Majority is nonsense (Unsinn). Understanding has always been only with the minority.
What religion do I profess! None of all you name to me. Why none? Out of respect to religion.
Which of all the philosophies think you will stand? / I know not, but philosophy itself I hope will continue with us for ever.
Why are taste (Geschmack) and genius so seldom willing to unite? The former is shy of power, the latter scorns restraint.
Will it, and set to work briskly.
Wilt thou know thyself, see how others do; wilt thou understand others, look into thine own heart.
Wo grosse Höh’, ist grosse Tiefe—Where there is great height there is great depth.
Wo viel Freiheit, ist viel Irrthum—Where there is much freedom there is much error.
Woman alone knows true loyalty of affection.
Wouldst thou know thyself, then see how others act; wouldst thou understand others, look thou into thine own heart.
Zeit ist’s, die Unfälle zu beweinen, / Wenn sie nahen und wirklich erscheinen—It is time enough to bewail misfortunes when they come and actually happen.
Zwei sind der Wege, auf welchen der Mensch zur Tugend emporstrebt, / Schliesst sich der eine dir zu, thut sich der andre dir auf, / Handelnd erreicht der Glückliche sie, der Leidende duldend; / Wohl ihm, den sein Geschick liebend auf beiden geführt—There are two roads on which man strives to virtue; one closes against thee, the other opens to thee; the favoured man wins his way by acting, the unfortunate by endurance; happy he whom his destiny guides him lovingly on both.