Wilhelm von Humboldt Quotes
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, and statesman, founder of the modern research university and of the modern philosophy of language. As Minister of Education he reformed the Prussian school system and founded the University of Berlin, which became the model for modern research universities worldwide. The quotes below are attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt, organized by topic.
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Death
-
“The impetuous conquests of Alexander , the more politic and premeditated extension of territory made by the Romans, the wild and cruel incursions of the Mexicans, and the despotic acquisitions of the incas, have in both hemispheres contributed to put an end to the separate existence of many tribes as independent nations, and tended at the same time to establish more extended international amalgama”
Ueber die Kawi-Sprache , vol. iii. Quoted in Alexander von Humboldt, Kosmos (1845–1847): translated by Elise C. Otté (1848) p. 369, footnote
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Freedom
-
Attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt:
“Without freedom no genuine cultivation is possible.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Mind
-
Attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt:
“Language is the formative organ of thought.”
-
Attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt:
“The diversity of languages corresponds to a diversity of worldviews.”
-
“The interdependence of word and idea shows clearly that languages are not actually means of representing a truth already known, but rather of discovering the previously unknown. Their diversity is not one of sounds and signs, but a diversity of world perspectives [ Weltansichten ]. … The sum of the knowable, as the field to be tilled by the human mind, lies among all languages, independent of them, in the middle. Man cannot approach this purely objective realm other than through his cognitive and sensory powers, that is, in a subjective manner.”
Durch die gegenseitige Abhängigkeit des Gedankens, und des Wortes von einander leuchtet es klar ein, daß die Sprachen nicht eigentlich Mittel sind, die schonerkannte Welt darzustellen, sondern weit mehr, die vorher unerkannte zu entdecken. Ihre Verschiedenheit ist nicht eine von Schällen und Zeichen, sondern eine Verschiedenheit der Weltansichten selbst. Hierin ist der Grund, und der letzte Zweck
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Nature
-
“If we would indicate an idea which, throughout the whole course of history, has ever more and more widely extended its empire, or which, more than any other, testifies to the much-contested and still more decidedly misunderstood perfectibility of the whole human race, it is that of establishing our common humanity — of striving to remove the barriers which prejudice and limited views of every kind”
Ueber die Kawi-Sprache , vol. iii, p. 426. Quoted in Alexander von Humboldt , Kosmos (1845–1847): translated by Elise C. Otté, Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1848) pp. 368–369
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Politics
-
Attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt:
“The state should restrict itself to the security of person and property.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Time
-
“Durch die gegenseitige Abhängigkeit des Gedankens, und des Wortes von einander leuchtet es klar ein, daß die Sprachen nicht eigentlich Mittel sind, die schonerkannte Welt darzustellen, sondern weit mehr, die vorher unerkannte zu entdecken. Ihre Verschiedenheit ist nicht eine von Schällen und Zeichen, sondern eine Verschiedenheit der Weltansichten selbst. Hierin ist der Grund, und der letzte Zweck ”
Reported in Robert Lee Miller, The Linguistic Relativity Principle and Humboldtian Ethnolinguistics: A History And Appraisal (1963), and in Cristina Lafont, The Linguistic Turn in Hermeneutic Philosophy (2002)
Wilhelm von Humboldt on Virtue
-
Attributed to Wilhelm von Humboldt:
“The true end of man is the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete and consistent whole.”
Things actually not said by Wilhelm von Humboldt
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Wilhelm von Humboldt but are in fact from someone else. Did Wilhelm von Humboldt say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
-
Did Wilhelm von Humboldt say this? No.
“Erst erfreuen, dann belehren.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: First delight, then instruct. Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Gustav Friedrich Waagen in "On the Purpose of the Berlin Gallery" [ Über die Aufgabe der Berliner Galerie ] (1828); occasionally attributed to von Humboldt, who had quoted Schinkel and Waagen in a report.
-
Did Wilhelm von Humboldt say this? No.
“First delight, then instruct.”
Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Gustav Friedrich Waagen in "On the Purpose of the Berlin Gallery" [ Über die Aufgabe der Berliner Galerie ] (1828); occasionally attributed to von Humboldt, who had quoted Schinkel and Waagen in a report.