“The obsession with moderation is the spirit of castrated narrow-mindedness.” Quote by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“Gracefulness is a correct life: sensuality which contemplates and forms itself.” FormSensualityContemplatingDecorumGracefulness Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“The naive is what is or appears to be natural, individual, or classical to the point of irony or to the point of continuous alternation of self-creation and self-destruction. If it is only instinct, then it is childlike, childish, or silly; if it is only intention, it becomes affectation.” IfsSelfIndividualNaturalCreationDestructionIntentionInstinctSillyIronyNaiveSelf DestructionChildlike Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“The naive which is simultaneously beautiful, poetic, and idealistic, must be both intention and instinct. The essence of intention, in this sense, is freedom. Consciousness is far from intention. There is a certain enamoured contemplation of one's own naturalness or silliness which itself is unspeakably silly. Intention does not necessarily require a profound calculation or plan.” DoeBeautifulCertainConsciousnessPlansEssenceIntentionInstinctProfoundSillyContemplationPoeticNaiveCalculationsIdealisticSilliness Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“Every form of life is in its origin not natural, but divine and human; for it must spring from love, just as there can be no reason without spirit.” HumansReasonFormLife IsSpiritNaturalDivineSpringDivinityNo Reason Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“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.” ShouldWellsHandsWould BeSpiritCasesProveAuthorityDirectMethodPossessionPeculiarGood WorkAntiquityInvokeRedeemingConcise Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“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.” HumansArtSelfSpiritHuman BeingsResultsCreationParticularDestructionDividedRestraintSelf DestructionSelf Restraint Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“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.” KnowsWantMomentsAbleArtistGivenWishBrokenConversationFriendly Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“Some speak of the public as if it were someone with whom they have had dinner at the Leipzig Fair in the Hotel de Saxe. Who is this public? The public is not a thing, but rather an idea, a postulate, like the Church.” IfsIdeasSpeakChurchFairsDinnerHotelLeipzig Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“A classification is a definition comprising a system of definitions.” DefinitionsClassification Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
“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.” ShouldSeemsDestinyVirtueMysteryMiracleArbitrary Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel