Eternal life and the invisible world are only to be sought in God. Only within Him do all spirits dwell. He is an abyss of individuality, the only infinite plenitude. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel More Quotes by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel More Quotes From Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel All the great truths are basically trivial and so we have to find new ways, preferably paradoxical ways, of expressing them, in order to keep them from falling into oblivion. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel orderwayfall Original love never appears in pure form, but in manifold veils and shapes, such as confidence, humility, reverence, serenity, asfaithfulness and modesty, as gratefulness; but primarily as longing and wistful melancholy. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel serenityveilshumility A good preface must be the root and the square of the book at the same time. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel squaresrootsbook The most important thing in love is the sense for one another, and the highest thing the faith in one another. Devotion is the expression of that faith, and pleasure can revive and enhance that sense, even if not create it, as is commonly thought. Therefore, sensuality can delude bad persons for a short time into thinking they could love each other. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel expressionlove-isthinking All thinking of the religious man is etymological, a reduction of all concepts to the original intuition, to the characteristic. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel religiousmenthinking True love should be, according to its origin, entirely arbitrary and entirely accidental at the same time; it should seem both necessary and free; in keeping with its nature, however, it should be both destiny and virtue and appear as a mystery and a miracle. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel arbitrarydestinymiracle Even a friendly conversation which cannot be at any given moment be broken off voluntarily with complete arbitrariness has something illiberal about it. An artist, however, who is able and wants to express himself completely, who keeps nothing to himself and would wish to say everything he knows, is very much to be pitied. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel brokenartistwish Sense (for a particular art, science, human being, and so forth) is divided spirit; self-restraint is consequently the result of self-creation and self-destruction. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel spiritselfart We should never invoke the spirit of antiquity as our authority. Spirits are peculiar things; they cannot be grasped with the hands and be held up before others. Spirits reveal themselves only to spirits. The most direct and concise method would be, in this case as well, to prove the possession of the only redeeming faith by good works. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel peculiarwould-behands A genuinely free and educated man should be able to tune himself, as one tunes a musical instrument, absolutely arbitrarily, at his convenience at any time and to any degree, philosophically or philologically, critically or poetically, historically or rhetorically, in ancient or modern form. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel musicaleducationmen If one writes or reads novels from the point of view of psychology, it is very inconsistent and petty to want to shy away from even the slowest and most detailed analysis of the most unnatural lusts, gruesome tortures, shocking infamy, and disgusting sensual or spiritual impotence. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel spiritualviewswriting The symmetry and organization of history teaches us that mankind, during its existence and development, genuinely was and became an individual, a person. In this great personality of mankind, God became man. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel organizationgodmen The following are the universally fundamental laws of literary communication: 1. one must have something to communicate; 2. one must have someone to whom to communicate it; 3. one must really communicate it, not merely express it for oneself alone. Otherwise it would be more to the point to remain silent. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel communicationwould-belaw There are three kinds of explanation in science: explanations which throw a light upon, or give a hint at a matter; explanations which do not explain anything; and explanations which obscure everything. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel lightgivingscience In England, wit is at least a profession, if not an art. everything becomes professional there, and even the rogues of that islandare pedants. So are the "wits" there too. They introduce into reality absolute freedom whose reflection lends a romantic and piquant air to wit, and thus they live wittily; hence their talent for madness. They die for their principles. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel reflectionrealityart The history of imitation of the older literature, particularly abroad, has among other advantages this one, that the important concepts of unintentional parody and passive wit can be deduced from it most easily and comprehensively. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel imitationimportantliterature The meanest authors have at least this similarity with the great author of heaven and earth, that they usually say after a completed day of work: "And behold, what he had done was good. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel creativitydoneheaven The life of the artist should be distinguished from that of all other people, even in external habits. They are Brahmins, a higher caste, not ennobled by birth, however, but through deliberate self-initiation. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel artistselfpeople Can we expect the redemption of the world from scholars? I doubt it. But the time has come for all artists to join together as a confederation in an eternal league. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel artistleaguedoubt Through artists mankind becomes an individual, in that they unite the past and the future in the present. They are the higher organ of the soul, where the life spirits of entire external mankind meet and in which inner mankind first acts. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel artistsoulpast
