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Rigor Pushed Too Far Is Sure To Miss Its Aim, However Good, As The Bow Snaps That Is Bent Too Stiffly.

-Friedrich Schiller

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Rigor Pushed Too Far

Friedrich Schiller

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Rigor Pushed Too Far Is Sure To Miss Its Aim, However Good, As The Bow Snaps That Is Bent Too Stiffly.

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The Zeal Of Friends It Is That Razes Me, And Not The Hate Of Enemies.

Folly, Thou Conquerest, And I Must Yield! Against Stupidity The Very Gods Themselves Contend In Vain. Exalted Reason, Resplendent Daughter Of The Head Divine, Wise Foundress Of The System Of The World, Guide Of The Stars, Who Are Thou Then, If Thou, Bound To The Tail Of Folly's Uncurb'd Steed, Must, Vainly Shrieking, With The Drunken Crowd, Eyes Open, Plunge Down Headlong In The Abyss.

Keep True To The Dreams Of Your Youth.

Wouldst Thou Know Thyself, Observe The Actions Of Others. Wouldst Thou Other Men Know, Look Thou Within Thine Own Heart.

Strange Customs Do Not Thrive In Foreign Soil.

When The Gods Were More Manlike, Men Were More Godlike.

A Childlike Mind In Its Simplicity Practises That Science Of Good To Which The Wise May Be Blind.

Sorrow Is Brief But Joy Is Endless

There Is No Solitude In Nature.

O God, How Lovely Still Is Life!

Have Faith. Where'er Thy Bark Is Driven, - The Calm's Disport, The Tempest's Mirth, - Know This: God Rules The Hosts Of Heaven, The Habitants Of Earth.

Be True, And Thou Shalt Fetter Time With Everlasting Chain.

The Man Who Fears Nothing Is As Powerful As He Who Is Feared By Everybody.

If Yon Wish To Be Like The Gods On Earth, To Be Free In The Realms Of The Dead, Pluck Not The Fruit From The Garden! In Appearance It May Glisten To The Eye; But The Perishable Pleasure Of Possession Quickly Avenges The Curse Of Curiosity.

There Are Evil Spirits Who Suddenly Fix Their Abode In Man's Unguarded Breast, Causing Us To Commit Devilish Deeds, And Then, Hurrying Back To Their Native Hell, Leave Behind The Stings Of Remorse In The Poisoned Bosom.

Live With Your Century; But Do Not Be Its Creature.

Will It, And Set To Work Briskly.

Accursed Be He Who Plays With The Devil.

Futurity Is Impregnable To Mortal Ken: No Prayer Pierces Through Heaven's Adamantine Walls. Whether The Birds Fly Right Or Left, Whatever Be The Aspect Of The Stars, The Book Of Nature Is A Maze, Dreams Are A Lie, And Every Sign A Falsehood.

In The Ardor Of Pursuit Men Soon Forget The Goal From Which They Start.

The Game Of Life Looks Cheerful When One Carries A Treasure Safe In His Heart.

A Noble Soul Spreads Even Over A Face In Which The Architectonic Beauty Is Wanting An Irresistible Grace, And A Often Even Triumphs Over The Natural Disfavor.

Secrecy Is For The Happy,--misery, Hopeless Misery, Needs No Veil; Under A Thousand Suns It Dares Act Openly.

The Storm Is Master. Man, As A Ball, Is Tossed Twixt Winds And Billows.

Alas! When Duty Grows Thy Law, Enjoyment Fades Away.

It Is Through Beauty That We Arrive At Freedom.

To The Fool-king Belongs The World.

The May Of Life Blooms Once And Never Again.

He Who Has Done His Best For His Own Time Has Lived For All Times.

The Dream Is Short, Repentance Long.

But How Is The Artist To Protect Himself Against The Corruption Of The Age Which Besets Him On All Sides?

To Know Thyself--in Others Self-concern; Would'st Thou Know Others? Read Thyself--and Learn!

I Am My Own Heaven And Hell!

No Greater Grief Than To Remember Days Of Gladness When Sorrow Is At Hand.

We, We Live! Ours Are The Hours, And The Living Have Their Claims.

Why Should I Deem Myself To Be A Chisel, When I Could Be The Artist?

Votes Should Be Weighed Not Counted.

He Who Neglects The Present Moment Throws Away All He Has.

Deaf Rage That Hears No Leader.

O'er Ocean, With A Thousand Masts, Sails Forth The Stripling Bold- One Boat, Hard Rescued From The Deep, Draws Into Port The Old!

Man Is An Imitative Creature.

Yet Have I Ever Heard It Said That Spies And Tale-bearers Have Done More Mischief In This World Than Poisoned Bowl Or The Assassin's Dagger.

When The Wine Goes In, Strange Things Come Out.

To Gain A Crown By Fighting Is Great, To Reject It Divine.

Anyone Taken As An Individual Is Tolerably Sensible And Reasonable - As A Member Of A Crowd, He At Once Becomes A Blockhead.

I Am Better Than My Reputation

I Feel That I Am A Man Of Destiny.

Physical Beauty Is The Sign Of An Interior Beauty, A Spiritual And Moral Beauty Which Is The Basis, The Principle, And The Unity Of The Beautiful.

Think With Awe On The Slow And Quiet Power Of Time.

Regarded In Isolation, An Idea May Be Quite Insignificant, And Venturesome In The Extreme, But It May Acquire Importance From An Idea Which Follows It; Perhaps, In A Certain Collocation With Other Ideas, Which May Seem Equally Absurd, It May Be Capable Of Furnishing A Very Serviceable Link.

The Mountain Cannot Frighten One Who Was Born On It.

Around, Around, Companions All, Take Your Ground, And Name The Bell With Joy Profound! Concordia Is The Word We've Found Most Meet To Express The Harmonious Sound, That Calls To Those In Friendship Bound.

Life Did Not Present Its Sunny Side To Thee.

I Have Enjoyed The Happiness Of The World; I Have Loved.

The Jest Loses Its Point When He Who Makes It Is The First To Laugh.

Satisfy A Few To Please Many Is Bad.

One Can Give Advice Comfortably From A Safe Port.

Even Weak Men When United Are Powerful.

Love Is Only Known By Him Who Hopelessly Persists In Love.

Nothing Leads To Good That Is Not Natural.

What Reason, Like The Careful Ant, Draws Laboriously Together, The Wind Of Accident Sometimes Collects In A Moment.

Wine Invents Nothing; It Only Tattles.

A Merely Fallen Enemy May Rise Again, But The Reconciled One Is Truly Vanquished.

Whoever Fails To Turn Aside The Ills Of Life By Prudent Forethought, Must Submit To Fulfill The Course Of Destiny.

A Sublime Soul Can Rise To All Kinds Of Greatness, But By An Effort; It Can Tear Itself From All Bondage, To All That Limits And Constrains It, But Only By Strength Of Will. Consequently The Sublime Soul Is Only Free By Broken Efforts.

Posterity Weaves No Garlands For Imitators.

He, That Noble Prize Possessing He That Boasts A Friend That's True, He Whom Woman's Love Is Blessing, Let Him Join The Chorus Too!

One Drop Of Hatred Left In The Cup Of Joy Turns The Most Blissful Draught Into Poison.

The Painter Is, As To The Execution Of His Work, A Mechanic; But As To His Conception And Spirit And Design He Is Hardly Below Even The Poet.

Eternity Gives Nothing Back Of What One Leaves Out Of The Minutes.

Don't Let Your Heart Depend On Things That Ornament Life In A Fleeting Way! He Who Possesses, Let Him Learn To Lose, He Who Is Fortunate, Let Him Learn Pain.

If You Have Never Seen Beauty In A Moment Of Suffering, You Have Never Seen Beauty At All. If You Have Never Seen Joy In A Beautiful Face, You Have Never Seen Joy At All.

A Noble Heart Will Always Capitulate To Reason.

Man Is Made Of The Wholly Common, And Custom Is His Nurse; Woe Then To Them Who Lay Irreverent Hands On His Old House-furniture, The Dear Inheritance From His Forefathers: For Time Consecrates, And What Is Gray With Age Becomes Religion.

The Very Plants Turn With A Joyful Transport To The Light.

Ah, To That Far Distant Strand Bridge There Was Not To Convey, Not A Bark Was Near At Hand, Yet True Love Soon Found The Way.

Art Is The Right Hand Of Nature. The Latter Has Only Given Us Being, The Former Has Made Us Men.

Rigor Pushed Too Far Is Sure To Miss Its Aim, However Good, As The Bow Snaps That Is Bent Too Stiffly.

The Strong Man Is Strongest When Alone.

Forgiveness Is The Finding Again Of A Lost Possession.

If Thou Art Something Bring Thy Soul And Interchange With Mine. - Johann Christoph Friedrich Von Schiller.

What Shall He Fear That Does Not Fear Death.

It Is Play And Only Play That Makes Man Complete.

Even Now, Nature Is The Only Flame, On Which The Poetic Spirit Feeds; From It Alone It Draws All Its Power, To It Alone It Speaks Even In The Artificial, In The Man Engaged In Culture.

Truth Exists For The Wise, Beauty For The Feeling Heart.

Whatever Is Not Forbidden Is Permitted.

Revenge Is Barren Of Itself: It Is The Dreadful Food It Feeds On; Its Delight Is Murder, And Its End Is Despair.

On The Mountains There Is Freedom! The World Is Perfect Everywhere, Save Where Man Comes With His Torment.

When The Measured Dance Of The Hours Brings Back The Happy Smile Of Spring, The Buried Dead Is Born Again In The Life-glance Of The Sun. The Germs Which Perished To The Eye Within The Cold Breast Of The Earth Spring Up With Joy In The Bright Realm Of Day.

O Tender Yearning, Sweet Hoping! The Golden Time Of First Love! The Eye Sees The Open Heaven, The Heart Is Intoxicated With Bliss; O That The Beautiful Time Of Young Love Could Remain Green Forever.

The Future Comes Slowly, The Present Flies And The Past Stands Still Forever.

Utility Is The Great Idol Of The Age, To Which All Powers Must Do Service And All Talents Swear Allegiance. In This Great Balance Of Utility, The Spiritual Service Of Art Has No Weight, And, Deprived Of All Encouragement, It Vanishes From The Noisy Vanity Fair Of Our Time.

No Cause Has He To Say His Doom Is Harsh, Who's Made The Master Of His Destiny.

We Must Bear What Heaven Sends.

Never The Grave Gives Back What It Has Won!

When You Are Not Happy With Your Life, Always Think That Someone Is Happy Simply Because You Exist

Man Is Created Free, And Is Free, Even Though Born In Chains.

The World's History Is The World's Judgment.

Fate Hath No Voice But The Heart's Impulse.

As Soon As I Have Begun To Fear I Have Ceased To Fear.

The Victor Is Often Vanquished By His Own Success.

Cowards Have Done Good And Kind Actions, But A Coward Never Pardoned.

Man Is Made Of Ordinary Things, And Habit Is His Nurse.

Every Great Mind Seeks To Labor For Eternity. All Men Are Captivated By Immediate Advantages; Great Minds Alone Are Excited By The Prospect Of Distant Good.

What Is The Short Meaning Of The Long Speech?

Dare To Err And To Dream. Deep Meaning Often Lies In Childish Plays.

He Who Never Ventures Beyond Actuality Will Never Win The Prize Of Truth.

I Have Enjoyed Earthly Happiness, I Have Lived And Loved.

I Speak With The Eternal Through The Instrument Of Nature, Through The World's History: I Read The Soul Of The Artist In His Apollo.

The Key To Education Is The Experience Of Beauty.

Truth Is More Than A Dream And A Song.

His Saying Was: Live And Let Live.

Live And Let Live

Speech Is Always Bolder Than Action.

Love Guides The Stars Towards Each Other, The World Plan Endures Only Through Love.

To Rankling Poison Hast Thou Turned In Me The Milk Of Human Kindness.

For The World Is Only Governed By Self-interest.

Virtue, Though Clothed In A Beggar's Garb, Commands Respect.

Pain Is Short, And Joy Is Eternal.

The Hat Is The Pride Of Man; For He Who Cannot Keep His Hat On Before Kings And Emperors Is No Free Man.

You Worthy Critics, Or Whatever You May Call Yourselves, Are Ashamed Or Afraid Of The Momentary And Passing Madness Which Is Found In All Real Creators, The Longer Or Shorter Duration Of Which Distinguishes The Thinking Artist From The Dreamer. Hence Your Complaints Of Unfruitfulness, For You Reject Too Soon And Discriminate Too Severely.

Friends Show Me What I Can Do, Foes Teach Me What I Should Do.

Of All The Possessions Of This Life Fame Is The Noblest; When The Body Has Sunk Into The Dust The Great Name Still Lives.

Joy, Thou Spark From Heav'n Immortal, Daughter Of Elysium! Drunk With Fire, Toward Heaven Advancing Goddess, To Thy Shrine We Come. Thy Sweet Magic Brings Together What Stern Custom Spreads Afar; All Men Become Brothers Where Thy Happy Wing-beats Are.

The Lemonade Is Weak, Like Your Soul.

Like A Dart The Present Glances, Silent Stands The Past Sublime.

To Save All We Must Risk All.

Honor Women! They Entwine And Weave Heavenly Roses In Our Earthly Life.

It Is Not The Mere Station Of Life That Stamps The Value On Us, But The Manner In Which We Act Our Part.

Even The Weak Become Strong When They Are United.

If We Do Not Find Anything Very Pleasant, At Least We Shall Find Something New.

Appearance Rules The World.

Great Souls Endure In Silence.

Obedience Is The Christian's Crown.

Where There Is Much Freedom There Is Much Error.

Joy, In Nature's Wide Dominion, Mightiest Cause Of All Is Found; And 'tis Joy That Moves The Pinion When The Wheel Of Time Goes Round.

Men Show No Mercy And Expect No Mercy, When Honor Calls, Or When They Fight For Their Idols Or Their Gods.

O Jealousy! Thou Magnifier Of Trifles.

Wouldst Thou Wisely, And With Pleasure, Pass The Days Of Life's Short Measure, From The Slow One Counsel Take, But A Tool Of Him Ne'er Make; Ne'er As Friend The Swift One Know, Nor The Constant One As Foe.

Freedom Can Occur Only Through Education.

Full Of Wisdom Are The Ordinations Of Fate.

On Dreary Night Let Lusty Sunshine Fall.

No Doubt The Artist Is The Child Of His Time; But Woe To Him If He Is Also Its Disciple, Or Even Its Favorite.

Have Love. Not Love Alone For One, But Man As Man They Brother Call; And Scatter Like The Circling Sun Thy Charities On All.

Time Flies On Restless Pinions - Constant Never.

Knowledge, The Object Of Knowledge And The Knower Are The Three Factors Which Motivate Action; The Senses, The Work And The Doer Comprise The Threefold Basis Of Action.

Seraphs Share With Thee Knowledge; But Art, O Man, Is Thine Alone!

Vast, Colossal Destiny, Which Raises Man To Fame, Though It May Also Grind Him To Powder!

The Greeks Put Us To Shame Not Only By Their Simplicity, Which Is Foreign To Our Age; They Are At The Same Time Our Rivals, Nay, Frequently Our Models, In Those Very Points Of Superiority From Which We Seek Comfort When Regretting The Unnatural Character Of Our Manners. We See That Remarkable People Uniting At Once Fullness Of Form And Fullness Of Substance, Both Philosophising And Creating, Both Tender And Energetic, Uniting A Youthful Fancy To The Virility Of Reason In A Glorious Humanity.

There Is A Nobility In The World Of Manners.

A Gloomy Guest Fits Not A Wedding Feast.

The Voice Of Our Age Seems By No Means Favorable To Art, At All Events To That Kind Of Art To Which My Inquiry Is Directed. The Course Of Events Has Given A Direction To The Genius Of The Time That Threatens To Remove It Continually Further From The Ideal Of Art. For Art Has To Leave Reality, It Has To Raise Itself Bodily Above Necessity And Neediness; For Art Is The Daughter Of Freedom, And It Requires Its Prescriptions And Rules To Be Furnished By The Necessity Of Spirits And Not By That Of Matter.

It Is Only Through The Morning Gate Of The Beautiful That You Can Penetrate Into The Realm Of Knowledge. That Which We Feel Here As Beauty We Shall One Day Know As Truth.

In Love, Jealousy Is The Great Exaggerator.

Be Noble Minded! Our Own Heart, And Not Other Men's Opinions Of Us, Forms Our True Honor.

We Are Too Prone To Find Fault; Let Us Look For Some Of The Perfections.

Truth Lives On In The Midst Of Deception.

Virtue Is No Empty Echo.

As Freely As The Firmament Embraces The World, So Mercy Must Encircle Friend And Foe. The Sun Poursforth Impartially His Beams Through All The Regions Of Infinity; Heaven Bestows The Dew Equally On Every Thirsty Plant. Whatever Is Good And Comes From On High Is Universal And Without Reserve: But In The Heart's Recesses Darkness Dwells.

Only Those Who Have The Patience To Do Simple Things Perfectly Will Acquire The Skill To Do Difficult Things Easily.

Gray Hairs Are Death's Blossoms.

Uncommon Men Require No Common Trust; Give Him But Scope And He Will Set The Bounds.

Day's Lustrous Eyes Grow Heavy In Sweet Death.

Heaven And Earth Fight In Vain Against A Dunce!

The Average Estimate Themselves By What They Do, The Above Average By What They Are.

Rarely Do We Arrive At The Summit Of Truth Without Running Into Extremes; We Have Frequently To Exhaust The Part Of Error, And Even Of Folly, Before We Work Our Way Up To The Noble Goal Of Tranquil Wisdom.

I Know That We Often Tremble At An Empty Terror; Yet The False Fancy Brings A Real Misery.

Man Ever Talks, And Man Ever Dreams Of Better Days That Are Yet To Be, After Glittering Goal, That Distant Gleams, Running And Racing Untiringly. The Worldly May Grow Old And Young As It Will, But The Hope Of Man Is Improvement Still. Hope Bears Him Into Life In Her Arms, She Flutters Around The Boy's Young Bloom, The Soul Of Youth With Her Magic Warms, Nor Rests With Age In The Silent Tomb; For Ends Man His Weary Course At The Grave, There Plants He Hope O'er His Ashes To Wave.

In A Narrow Circle The Mind Contracts. Man Grows With His Expanded Needs.

History, Insofar As It Accustoms Human Beings To Comprehend The Whole Of The Past And To Hasten Forward With Its Conclusions Into The Far Future, Conceals The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Which Enclose The Life Of The Human Being So Narrowly And Oppressively, And With A Kind Of Optical Illusion, Expands His Short Existence Into Endless Space, Leading The Individual Imperceptibly Over Into Humanity.

Lose Not Yourself In A Far Off Time, Seize The Moment That Is Thine.

Focus And Concentration

Individual Character Is In The Right That Is In Strict Consistence With Itself. Self-contradiction Is The Only Wrong.

Let Him That Sows The Serpent's Teeth Not Hope To Reap A Joyous Harvest. Every Crime Has, In The Moment Of Its Perpetration, Its Own Avenging Angel,--dark Misgivings At The Inmost Heart.

The Voice Of The Majority Is No Proof Of Justice.

Libertarian Party

As Inclination Changes, Thus Ebbs And Flows The Unstable Tide Of Public Judgment.

The Happy Man Does Not Notice The Flight Of Time.

Truth Suffers No Loss If A Vehement Youth Fails In Finding It, In The Same Way That Virtue And Religion Suffer No Detriment If A Criminal Denies Them.

We Can Never Replace A Friend. When A Man Is Fortunate Enough To Have Several, He Finds They Are All Different. No One Has A Double In Friendship.

You Have To Go The Rounds From Individual To Individual In Order To Gather The Totality Of The Race.

Everlastingly Chained To A Single Little Fragment Of The Whole, Man Himself Develops Into Nothing But A Fragment; Everlastingly In His Ear The Monotonous Sound Of The Wheel That He Turns, He Never Develops The Harmony Of His Being, And Instead Of Putting The Stamp Of Humanity Upon His Own Nature, He Becomes Nothing More Than The Imprint Of His Occupation Or Of His Specialized Knowledge.

I Follow My Heart, For I Can Trust It.

Honesty Prospers In Every Condition Of Life.

Appearance Should Never Attain Reality, And If Nature Conquers, Then Must Art Retire.

The Moor Has Done His Work, The Moor May Go.

Our Safety Is Not In Blindness, But In Facing Our Dangers.

The Brave Person Thinks Of Himself Last Of All.

Emulation Is A Noble And Just Passion, Full Of Appreciation.

Arrow-swift The Present Sweepeth, And Motionless Forever Stands The Past.

Opposition Always Inflames The Enthusiast, Never Converts Him.

Every True Genius Is Bound To Be Naive.

It Is At The Approach Of Extreme Danger When A Hollow Puppet Can Accomplish Nothing, That Power Falls Into The Mighty Hands Of Nature, Of The Spirit Giant-born, Who Listens Only To Himself, And Knows Nothing Of Compacts.

Accomplish Nothing

Against Stupidity, God Himself Fights In Vain.

That Which Is So Universal As Death Must Be A Benefit.

Soon Is The Struggle Past, And To The Earth, To The Eternal Sun, I Render Back These Atoms, Joined In Me For Pain And Pleasure.

He Who Considers Too Much Will Perform Little.

He That Is Overcautious Will Accomplish Little.

Wise To Resolve, Patient To Perform.

It Is Easy To Give Advice From A Port Of Safety.

No Emperor Has The Power To Dictate To The Heart.

It Is Not Flesh And Blood, But Heart Which Makes Us Fathers And Sons.

Time Is A Blooming Field: Nature Is Ever Teeming With Life: And All Is Seed, And All Is Fruit.

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