Friedrich von Schiller Quotes on Truth

17 quotes

  1. There are three lessons I would write, Three words as with a burning pen, In tracings of eternal light Upon the hearts of men.

  2. Appearance should never attain reality, And if nature conquers, then must art retire.

    #15 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  3. Joy from truth's own glass of fire Sweetly on the searcher smiles; Lest on virtue's steeps he tire, Joy the tedious path beguiles. High on faith's bright hill before us, See her banner proudly wave! Joy, too, swells the angels' chorus,- Bursts the bondage of the grave!

  4. Courage, ne'er by sorrow broken! Aid where tears of virtue flow; Faith to keep each promise spoken! Truth alike to friend and foe!

    #42 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  5. They have founded the whole structure of their happiness on these very illusions, which ought to be combated and dissipated by the light of knowledge, and they would think they were paying too dearly for a truth which begins by robbing them of all that has value in their sight. It would be necessary that they should be already sages to love wisdom: a truth that was felt at once by him to whom philosophy owes its name.

  6. 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.

    #51 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  7. When the wine goes in, strange things come out.

  8. 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.

    #87 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  9. 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.

    #88 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  10. 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.

    #90 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  11. Appearance rules the world.

    #96 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  12. Every true genius is bound to be naive.

    #102 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  13. Honesty prospers in every condition of life.

    #109 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  14. It does not prove a thing to be right because the majority say it is so.

    #112 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  15. It is difficult to discriminate the voice of truth from amid the clamor raised by heated partisans.

    #115 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  16. It is often wise to reveal that which cannot be concealed for long.

    #117 Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

  17. Truth exists for the wise, beauty for the feeling heart.

All Friedrich von Schiller quotes