Novalis Quotes on Knowledge
Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, who published under the pen name Novalis, was a German poet, mystic, and philosopher of early Romanticism. This page collects quotes attributed to Novalis on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“We seek the absolute everywhere and only ever find things.”
Everywhere we seek the Absolute, and always we find only things. -
Attributed to Novalis:
“Genius is the talent to take the contingent for the necessary.”
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“Unser Leben ist kein Traum, aber es soll und wird vielleicht einer werden.”
Our life is no dream, but it should and will perhaps become one. | Novalis Schriften , 2nd ed. (Berlin, 1805) vol. 2, Fragmente , I, p. 188. Translated in George MacDonald, Lilith (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1895) ch. 47, p. 351 | Other translations: Our life is no dream; but it ought to become one, and perhaps will. George MacDonald, Phantastes: A Faerie Romance (London: Daldy, Isbister, & Co, -
“Novalis Schriften , 2nd ed. (Berlin, 1805) vol. 2, Fragmente , I, p. 188. Translated in George MacDonald, Lilith (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1895) ch. 47, p. 351”
Unser Leben ist kein Traum, aber es soll und wird vielleicht einer werden. -
“There are ideal series of events which run parallel with the real ones. They rarely coincide. Men and circumstances generally modify the ideal train of events, so that it seems imperfect, and its consequences are equally imperfect. Thus with the Reformation; instead of Protestantism came Lutheranism.”
Es giebt eine Reihe idealischer Begebenheiten, die der Wirklichkeit parallel läuft. Selten fallen sie zusammen. Menschen und Zufälle modificiren gewöhnlich die idealische Begebenheit, so dass sie unvollkommen erscheint, und ihre Folgen gleiche falls unvollkommen sind. So bei der Reformation; stat des Protestantismus kam das Lutherthum hervor. -
“Quoted as epigraph in Poe 's " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " (1842). Adapted from Sarah Austin 's Fragments from German Prose Writers (1841)”
Es giebt eine Reihe idealischer Begebenheiten, die der Wirklichkeit parallel läuft. Selten fallen sie zusammen. Menschen und Zufälle modificiren gewöhnlich die idealische Begebenheit, so dass sie unvollkommen erscheint, und ihre Folgen gleiche falls unvollkommen sind. So bei der Reformation; stat des Protestantismus kam das Lutherthum hervor. -
“Schicksal und Gemüt sind Namen eines Begriffs.”
Fate and temperament are the names of a concept. | Quoted in Hermann Hesse , Demian (1921) ch. 4. Translated by W. J. Strachan (1972). Translated by Michael Roloff and Michael Lebeck (1965): "Fate and temperament are two words for one and the same concept. -
“Fate and temperament are the names of a concept.”
Schicksal und Gemüt sind Namen eines Begriffs. -
“Quoted in Hermann Hesse , Demian (1921) ch. 4. Translated by W. J. Strachan (1972). Translated by Michael Roloff and Michael Lebeck (1965): "Fate and temperament are two words for one and the same concept.”
Schicksal und Gemüt sind Namen eines Begriffs.