Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Quotes on Knowledge
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s The Education of the Human Race (Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts, 1780) and the late polemical writings against Pastor Goeze gave the late German Enlightenment its most distinctive statement of the historical philosophy of religious knowledge. The central thesis is that revealed religion supplies the early historical pedagogy through which the human race is progressively brought to the rational truths it will eventually grasp on its own — and the corresponding philosophical-theological reflection on the relation between historical and rational truths frames the famous Lessingian formula that contingent historical truths can never become the proof of necessary rational truths. The framework, drawing on Leibniz and the broader German rationalist tradition Lessing inherited and engaged critically, shaped subsequent German philosophy of religion through Hegel and Strauss, and the broader Enlightenment debate over revelation, reason, and the development of religious knowledge over historical time.
Quotes
-
Attributed to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing:
“If God held all truth in his right hand and in his left only the steady and diligent striving for truth, I would humbly choose the left hand.”
-
Attributed to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing:
“Education is to man what mould is to bricks; it forms the shape of the soul.”
-
Attributed to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing:
“Read the most ancient books with the same care that you would the most modern.”
-
“Was ist ein Held ohne Menschenliebe?”
What is a hero without love for mankind? Philotas (1759), Act 1, Scene 7 -
“Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln.”
It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important. Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767 -
“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important. Hamburgische Dramaturgie (1767 - 1769), Vierunddreißigstes Stück Den 25. August 1767”
Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln. -
“Perlen bedeuten Tränen.”
Pearls mean tears. Emilia Galotti (1772), Act II, scene VIII -
“Pearls mean tears. Emilia Galotti (1772), Act II, scene VIII”
Perlen bedeuten Tränen. -
“Besserer Rat kommt über Nacht.”
Better counsel comes overnight. Emilia Galotti (1772), Act IV, scene III -
“Better counsel comes overnight. Emilia Galotti (1772), Act IV, scene III”
Besserer Rat kommt über Nacht. -
“Und ein Vergnügen erwarten, ist auch ein Vergnügen.”
To look forward to pleasure is also a pleasure. Minna von Barnhelm (1763), , Act IV, scene VI -
“It is infinitely difficult to know when and where one should stop, and for all but one in thousands the goal of their thinking is the point at which they have become tired of thinking.”
Letter to Moses Mendelssohn , January 9, 1771 -
“Nathan the Wise (1779), Act II, scene II”
Wikiquote