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We Are Citizens Of An Age, As Well As Of A State; And If It Is Held To Be Unseemly, Or Even Inadmissible, For A Man To Cut Himself Off From The Customs And Manners Of The Circle In Which He Lives, Why Should It Be Less Of A Duty, In The Choice Of His Activity, To Submit His Decision To The Needs And The Taste Of His Century?

-Friedrich Schiller

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We Are Citizens Of

Friedrich Schiller

...

We Are Citizens Of An Age, As Well As Of A State; And If It Is Held To Be Unseemly, Or Even Inadmissible, For A Man To Cut Himself Off From The Customs And Manners Of The Circle In Which He Lives, Why Should It Be Less Of A Duty, In The Choice Of His Activity, To Submit His Decision To The Needs And The Taste Of His Century?

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Dear Is My Friend--yet From My Foe, As From My Friend, Comes Good: My Friend Shows What I Can Do, And My Foe What I Should.

Joy Is The Mainspring In The Whole Of Endless Nature's Calm Rotation. Joy Moves The Dazzling Wheels That Roll In The Great Time-piece Of Creation.

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

If You Would Attain To Your Highest, Go Look Upon A Flower;what The Flower Does Willessly, That Do Willingly.

Speech Is Always Bolder Than Action.

I Am Called The Richest Monarch In The Christian World; The Sun In My Dominion Never Sets.

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.

In The Society, Where People Are Just Parts In A Larger Machine, Individuals Are Unable To Develop Fully.

The Rich Become Richer And The Poor Become Poorer Is A Cry Heard Throughout The Whole Civilized World.

I Am My Own Heaven And Hell!

Against Stupidity, God Himself Fights In Vain.

I Feel That I Am A Man Of Destiny.

The Dictates Of The Heart Are The Voice Of Fate.

There Is A Nobility In The World Of Manners.

The Dignity Of Man Into Your Hands Is Given; Oh, Keep It Well, With You It Sinks Or Lifts Itself To Heaven.

Opposition Always Inflames The Enthusiast, Never Converts Him.

There Is No Solitude In Nature.

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

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.

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.

The Greater Part Of Humanity Is Too Much Harassed And Fatigued By The Struggle With Want, To Rally Itself For A New And Sterner Struggle With Error.

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

Doch Zittre Vor Der Langsamen, Der Stillen Macht Der Zeit. Yet Tremble At The Slow, Silent Power Of Time.

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.

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.

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.

From The Moment Fear Begins I Have Ceased To Fear.

The Key To Education Is The Experience Of Beauty.

Deaf Rage That Hears No Leader.

The Victor Is Often Vanquished By His Own Success.

Life Is Earnest, Art Is Gay.

Illusion Is Brief, But Repentance Is Long.

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

Toil Of Science Swells The Wealth Of Art.

It Is Well For A Man When He Has Learned To Endure What He Cannot Change, And To Give Up With Dignity What He Cannot Retain.

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

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

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

Where There Is Much Freedom There Is Much Error.

If You Cannot Please Everyone With Your Deeds And Your Art, Please A Few. To Please Many Is Bad.

Historians Are Prophets With Their Face Turned Backward.

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.

Art Is The Daughter Of Freedom.

Who Dares Nothing, Need Hope For Nothing.

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

A Pity About The People! They Are Brave Enough Comrades, But They Have Heads Like A Soapboiler's.

Great Souls Endure In Silence.

Innocence Has A Friend In Heaven.

Great Souls Suffer In Silence.

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

Modest Humility Is Beauty's Crown.

Strange Customs Do Not Thrive In Foreign Soil.

The Worst Of Me Is Known, And I Can Say That I Am Better Than The Reputation I Bear.

There Is More To Life Than Just Existing And Having A Pleasant Time.

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

Youth Covets; Let Not This Covetousness Seduce You.

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

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.

There Are Occasions When The General Belief Of The People, Even Though It Be Groundless, Works Its Effect As Sure As Truth Itself.

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

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

Keep True To The Dreams Of Your Youth.

It Is Through Beauty That We Arrive At Freedom.

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

I Am Better Than My Reputation

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.

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.

Courage, Ne'er By Sorrow Broken! Aid Where Tears Of Virtue Flow; Faith To Keep Each Promise Spoken! Truth Alike To Friend And Foe!

Wine Invents Nothing; It Only Tattles.

Posterity Weaves No Garlands For Imitators.

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

Focus And Concentration

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.

Fate Always Wins, For Our Own Heart Within Us Imperiously Furthers Its Designs.

O Jealousy! Thou Magnifier Of Trifles.

Nothing, It Is True, Is More Common Than For Both Science And Art To Pay Homage To The Spirit Of The Age, And For Creative Taste To Accept The Law Of Critical Taste.

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.

The Iron Chain And The Silken Cord Are Both Equally Bonds.

Man, One May Say, Was Never In Such A Completely Animal Condition; But He Has, On The Other Hand, Never Escaped From It.

Whatever Lives, Lives To Die In Sorrow. We Engage Our Hearts, And Grasp After The Things Of This World, Only To Undergo The Pang Of Losing Them.

Mankind Is Made Great Or Little By Its Own Will.

Life Did Not Present Its Sunny Side To Thee.

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

Every True Genius Is Bound To Be Naive.

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.

Sentimental Poetry Differs From Naive Poetry In That It Relates The Real State At Which The Latter Stops To Ideas And Applies Ideas To That Reality.

Wise To Resolve, Patient To Perform.

I Feel An Army In My Fist.

Have Hope. Though Clouds Environs Now, And Gladness Hides Her Face In Scorn, Put Thou The Shadow From Thy Brow, - No Night But Hath Its Morn.

Let No One Despair, Even Though In The Darkest Night The Last Star Of Hope May Disappear.

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

O The Eye's Light Is A Noble Gift Of Heaven! All Beings Live From Light, Each Fair Created Thing; The Very Plants Turn With A Joyful Transport To The Light.

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

Truth Is More Than A Dream And A Song.

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

Obedience Decks The Christian Most.

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

O God, How Lovely Still Is Life!

What Shall He Fear That Does Not Fear Death.

Most Gladly Would I Give The Blood-stained Laurel For The First Violet Which March Brings Us, The Fragrant Pledge Of The New-fledged Year.

Utility Is The Great Idol Of The Age, To Which All Powers Must Do Service And All Talents Swear Allegiance.

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

What The Inner Voice Says Will Not Disappoint The Hoping Soul.

An Honest Man You May Form Of Windle-straws, But To Make A Rogue You Must Have Grist.

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

Joy All Creatures Drink At Nature's Bosoms.

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

As Noble Art Has Survived Noble Nature, So Too She Marches Ahead Of It, Fashioning And Awakening By Her Inspiration. Before Truth Sends Her Triumphant Light Into The Depths Of The Heart, Imagination Catches Its Rays, And The Peaks Of Humanity Will Be Glowing When Humid Night Still Lingers In The Valleys.

The May Of Life Blooms Once And Never Again.

Day's Lustrous Eyes Grow Heavy In Sweet Death.

No Emperor Has The Power To Dictate To The Heart.

The Empire Of Saturnus Is Gone By; Lord Of The Secret Birth Of Things Is He; Within The Lap Of Earth, And In The Depths Of The Imagination Dominates; And His Are All Things That Eschew The Light. The Time Is O'er Of Brooding And Contrivance, For Jupiter, The Lustrous, Lordeth Now, And The Dark Work, Complete Of Preparation, He Draws By Force Into The Realm Of Light. Now Must We Hasten On To Action, Ere The Scheme, And Most Auspicious Positure Parts O'er My Head, And Takes Once More Its Flight, For The Heavens Journey Still, And Adjourn Not.

No, No! I Do Nature Injustice. She Gave Us Inventive Faculty, And Set Us Naked, And Helpless On The Shore Of This Great Ocean,--the World; Swim Those Who Can, The Heavy May Go To The Bottom.

It Is Play And Only Play That Makes Man Complete.

Weep, For The Light Is Dead.

Accursed Be He Who Plays With The Devil.

He That Is Over-cautious Will Accomplish But Very Little.

It Hinders The Creative Work Of The Mind If The Intellect Examines Too Closely The Ideas As They Pour In.

Forgiveness Is The Finding Again Of A Lost Possession.

Truth Lives On In The Midst Of Deception.

Not He Who Scorns The Saviour's Yoke Should Wear His Cross Upon The Heart.

Ever Building, Building To The Clouds, Still Building Higher, And Never Reflecting That The Poor Narrow Basis Cannot Sustain The Giddy Tottering Column.

The Will Of Man Is His Happiness.

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

A Virtuous Name Is The Precious Only Good, For Which Queens And Peasants' Wives Must Contest Together.

It May Here Be Justly Said, That Genuine Morality Is Preserved Only In The School Of Adversity, And A State Of Continuous Prosperity May Easily Prove A Quicksand To Virtue.

The Present Age Has Witnessed An Extraordinary Increase Of A Thinking Public, By The Facilities Afforded To The Diffusion Of Reading; The Former Happy Resignation To Ignorance Begins To Make Way For A State Of Half-enlightenment, And Few Persons Are Willing To Remain In The Condition In Which Their Birth Has Placed Then.

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

The Lemonade Is Weak, Like Your Soul.

Song Forbids Victorious Deeds To Die.

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

Satisfied If They Themselves Can Escape From The Hard Labour Of Thought, They Willingly Abandon To Others The Guardianship Of Their Thoughts.

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

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.

As Freely As The Firmament Embraces The World, Or The Sun Pours Forth Impartially His Beams, So Mercy Must Encircle Both Friend And Foe.

Love Is The Reward Of Love.

It Is Often Wise To Reveal That Which Cannot Be Concealed For Long.

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

The Happy Man Does Not Notice The Flight Of Time.

Virtue Has Her Heroes Too As Well As Fame And Fortune.

Peace Is Rarely Denied To The Peaceful.

The Voice Of The Majority Is No Proof Of Justice.

Libertarian Party

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.

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

Nothing Leads To Good That Is Not Natural.

The History Of The World Is The World's Court Of Justice.

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.

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

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

Deep Meaning Lies Often In Childish Play.

Art Is Difficult, Transient Is Her Reward.

Appearance Rules The World.

Only Through Beauty's Morning-gate, Dost Thou Penetrate The Land Of Knowledge.

On Dreary Night Let Lusty Sunshine Fall.

Obedience Is The Christian's Crown.

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

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

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.

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.

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

If The Art Of Gardening Is At Last To Turn Back From Her Extravagances And Rest With Her Other Sisters, It Is, Above Everything, Necessary To Have Clearly Before You What You Require . . . It Is Certainly Tasteless And Inconsistent To Desire To Encompass The World With A Garden-wall, But Very Practicable And Reasonable To Make A Garden . . . Into A Characteristic Whole To The Eye, Heart, And Nderstanding Alike.

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

When The Wine Goes In, Strange Things Come Out.

Freedom Exists Only With Power.

Sorrow Is Brief But Joy Is Endless

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.

Cling To Thy Native Land, For It Is The Land Of Thy Fathers?

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.

Forgiveness Is The Divinest Of Victories.

Foster The Beautiful, And Every Hour Thou Tallest New Flowers To Birth.

To The Fool-king Belongs The World.

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.

Time Consecrates; And What Is Gray With Age Becomes Religion.

We Must Bear What Heaven Sends.

The Gentlest Man Cannot Live In Peace If It Does Not Please His Wicked Neighbor.

Stubbornness Is Not Firmness.

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

Fate Hath No Voice But The Heart's Impulse.

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

The First Great Law Is To Obey.

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

Stern Is The Visage Of Necessity.

Against Stupidity The Very Gods Themselves Contend In Vain.

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

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.

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.

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

O That It Might Remain Eternally Green, The Beautiful Time Of Youthful Love.

An Axe At Home Saves Hiring A Carpenter.

Gray Hairs Are Death's Blossoms.

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

Glory To Women! They Weave And Entwine Heavenly Roses Into An Earthly Life.

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

The Mind Is The Eyesight Of The Soul.

Not Without A Shudder May The Human Hand Reach Into The Mysterious Urn Of Destiny.

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

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!

The Mountain Cannot Frighten One Who Was Born On It.

What Is The Short Meaning Of The Long Speech?

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

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.

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