Home / Quotes / Quote by Stefan Zweig

Quote by Stefan Zweig

“Against my will, I became a witness to the most terrible defeat of reason and to the most savage triumph of brutality ever chroniclednever before did a generation suffer such a moral setback after it had attained such intellectual heights.”

Quote by Stefan Zweig

Author

Stefan Zweig, born on November 28, 1881 in Vienna, was an Austrian novelist, playwright, and biographer. Known for his profound psychological insights and unique narrative style, he is a significant figure in European literature at the beginning of the 20th century. more

You May Also Like

“But in the intellectual world, there is room for all opposing forces: even that which never appears victorious in the real world continues to be effective as a dynamic force (in the intellectual world) and precisely the unfulfilled ideals prove to be the most invincible.”

World Real Force Rooms History Victory Prove Intellectual Ideals Real World Invincible Opposing

Author:Stefan Zweig

“Erasmus was the light of his century; others were its strength: he lighted the way; others knew how to walk on it while he himselfremained in the shadow as the source of light always does. But he who points the way into a new era is no less worthy of veneration than he who is the first to enter it; those who work invisibly have also accomplished a feat.”

Way Firsts Doe Light Leadership Walks History Century Source Shadow Worthy Eras Accomplished Feats New Era Veneration Erasmus

Author:Stefan Zweig

“Every epoch which seeks renewal first projects its ideal into a human form. In order to comprehend its own essence tangibly, the spirit of the time chooses a human being as its prototype and raising this single individual, often one upon whom it has chanced to come, far beyond his measure, the spirit enthuses itself for its own enthusiasm.”

Firsts Humans Form Spirit Order Individual Change Human Beings History Projects Ideals Essence Enthusiasm Renewal Epoch Human Form Prototype

Author:Stefan Zweig

“Of course, in the reality of history, the Machiavellian view which glorifies the principle of violence has been able to dominate.Not the compromising conciliatory politics of humaneness, not the Erasmian, but rather the politics of vested power which firmly exploits every opportunity, politics in the sense of the "Principe," has determined the development of European history ever since.”

Has Beens Reality Able Courses Opportunity Views Principles History Violence Development Europe Determined Compromise Exploits Glorify European History

Author:Stefan Zweig

“Never is a historic deed already completed when it is done but always only when it is handed down to posterity. What we call "history" by no means represents the sum total of all significant deeds.... World historyonly comprises that tiny lighted sector which chanced to be placed in the spotlight by poetic or scholarly depictions.”

World Mean Done History Deeds Tiny Significant Poetic Historic World History Posterity Spotlight Scholarly Depiction

Author:Stefan Zweig

“The Battle of Waterloo is a work of art with tension and drama with its unceasing change from hope to fear and back again, changewhich suddenly dissolves into a moment of extreme catastrophe, a model tragedy because the fate of Europe was determined within this individual fate.”

Art Moments Individual History Fate Drama Battle Models Europe Tragedy Extremes Determined Tension Works Of Art Catastrophe Back Again Waterloo

Author:Stefan Zweig

“But nothing is better than a truth which appears not to have the semblance of truth. There is always something incomprehensible about the great heroic deeds performed by humanity because they rise so far beyond the mediocre measure of mere mortals; but it is always only because of the incredible feats that human beings have accomplished that humanity recovers its faith in itself.”

Humans Truth Humanity Human Beings Mere Incredibles Deeds Mortals Accomplished Heroic Mediocre Feats Semblance Mere Mortals Heroic Deeds

Author:Stefan Zweig

“With Nietzsche, the black pirates' flag appears for the first time on the high sea of German knowledge. (He is) a different man, from a different race, (his,) a new kind of heroism, philosophywith bellicose weapons and armor.”

Men Firsts Kind Different Black Race Knowledge Sea Weapons First Time Philosophical Flags Heroism Pirate Armor Different Races High Seas

Author:Stefan Zweig

“This is the first time in history that a war has involved the whole world, and also it may last many years more; this thought is soul-shattering for all of us as human beings. It is horrible to think that the crimes committed by this one man Hitler have these many years been destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands and millions, and one would despair entirely were it not certain that the majority, the innumerable majority which opposes him openly or secretly, will succeed in wiping out once and for all him and his.”

Source: Stefan and Friderike Zweig: their correspondence, 1912-1942

“But, in history, practical usefulness never determines the moral value of an achievement. Only the person who increases the knowledge humanity has about itself and enhances its creative consciousness permanently enriches humanity.”

Persons Values Humanity Consciousness Moral Knowledge Creative Achievement Increase Determine Practicals Usefulness Moral Values

Author:Stefan Zweig