Friedrich Schlegel Quotes
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel was a German philosopher, literary critic, and one of the central figures of early Romanticism. With his brother August Wilhelm he founded the Athenaeum journal in Jena in 1798, which became the manifesto of the new movement and the home of his celebrated philosophical Fragments. The quotes below are attributed to Friedrich Schlegel, organized by topic.
Browse Friedrich Schlegel by topic
Friedrich Schlegel on Death
-
“Die romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Universalpoesie .”
The romantic poetry is a progressive universal poetry. | Progressive Universalpoesie (1798); in the German language, particularly in the Romantic schools, "Poesie" means both poetry as genre and faculty and the source of creativity to form poetry.
Friedrich Schlegel on Knowledge
-
“Every uneducated person is a caricature of himself.”
Jeder ungebildete Mensch ist die Karikatur von sich selbst. -
Attributed to Friedrich Schlegel:
“Philosophy must always remain a striving and never claim to be a possession.”
-
“The romantic poetry is a progressive universal poetry.”
Die romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Universalpoesie . -
“Progressive Universalpoesie (1798); in the German language, particularly in the Romantic schools, "Poesie" means both poetry as genre and faculty and the source of creativity to form poetry.”
Die romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Universalpoesie . -
“Wit is the appearance , the external flash of imagination . Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism .”
Aphorism 26, as translated in Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms (1968), p. 151 | Variant translation: | Wit is the appearance, the external flash, of fantasy. Hence its divinity and the similarity to the wit of mysticism. | As translated in The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics (1996) edited by Frederick C. Beiser, p. 131 -
“Wit is the appearance, the external flash, of fantasy. Hence its divinity and the similarity to the wit of mysticism.”
Wit is the appearance , the external flash of imagination . Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism .
Friedrich Schlegel on Time
-
Attributed to Friedrich Schlegel:
“A historian is a prophet looking backwards.”
-
“Irony is the form of paradox . Paradox is what is good and great at the same time .”
Aphorism 48, as translated in Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms (1968), p. 151
Friedrich Schlegel on Truth
-
Attributed to Friedrich Schlegel:
“Irony is a permanent parabasis.”
-
Attributed to Friedrich Schlegel:
“Beauty is the meaningful manifestation of the infinite in the finite.”
Friedrich Schlegel on Virtue
-
“Honour is the mysticism of legality.”
Aphorism 77, of Ideas as translated in The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics (1996) edited by Frederick C. Beiser, p. 131