1001Philosophers

Johann Gottfried Herder Quotes on Politics

Johann Gottfried Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, and literary critic and a central figure of the Sturm und Drang movement and the broader counter-Enlightenment. This page collects quotes attributed to Johann Gottfried Herder on the topic of politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Johann Gottfried Herder:

    “Each nation has its own inner center of happiness, just as every sphere has its own center of gravity.”

  • Attributed to Johann Gottfried Herder:

    “A poet is the creator of the nation around him.”

  • “Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind , Bk. 8, Ch. 5; as quoted in Johann Gottfried Herder : Another Philosophy of History and Selected Political Writings (2004), edited and translated by Ioannis D. Evrigenis and Daniel Pellerin, p. v”

    Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man(1784-91)
  • “Calmly take what ill betideth; Patience wins the crown at length : Rich repayment him abideth Who endures in quiet strength. Brave the tamer of the lion; Brave whom conquered kingdoms praise; Bravest he who rules his passions, Who his own impatience sways.”

    "Die wiedergefundenen Söhne" [The Recovered Sons] (1801) as translated in The Monthly Religious Magazine Vol. 10 (1853) p. 445