Friedrich Schiller Quotes on Knowledge
Friedrich Schiller's On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795) gave post-Kantian German philosophy one of its most influential treatments of the cognitive role of aesthetic experience as the bridge between the sensible and the rational sides of the human person. The framework treats the play-drive (Spieltrieb) as the integrative faculty in which the sense-drive and the form-drive are reconciled, and the corresponding ideal of beautiful semblance (schöner Schein) supplies the medium through which the moral education of humanity proceeds. The companion essay On Naive and Sentimental Poetry (1795–96) develops the parallel analysis of the cognitive and ethical situation of the modern self-conscious artist in relation to the naive immediacy of the ancient poetic tradition.
Quotes
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“Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.”
Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans) (1801), Act III, sc. vi (as translated by Anna Swanwick) | Variants of the most commonly quoted portion: Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. Against stupidity the gods themselves labor in vain. Against stupidity the gods themselves fight unvictorious Against stupidity even the gods contend in vain. Against stupidity gods themselves -
“I feel an army in my fist.”
Die Räuber (The Robbers) , Act II (1781) -
“To save all we must risk all.”
Fiesco, in Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy (1783) Act IV, Sc vi -
“Fiesco, in Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy (1783) Act IV, Sc vi”
To save all we must risk all. -
“The joke loses everything when the joker laughs himself.”
Die Verschwörung des Fiesco (The Conspiracy of Fiesco) , Act I, sc. vii (1783) -
“Did you think the lion was sleeping because he didn't roar?”
Die Verschwörung des Fiesco (The Conspiracy of Fiesco) , Act I, sc. xviii (1783)