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Friedrich Schiller on Birthday

1759–1805 Germany

← All quotes by Friedrich Schiller

12 quotes

Yet tremble at the slow, silent power of time.

Day follows on the murkiest night, and, when the time comes, the latest fruits will ripen.

Eternity gives nothing back of what one leaves out of the minutes.

Who knows what may be slumbering in the background of time!

Pain is short, and joy is eternal.

The Maid of Orleans (1801)

Time flies on restless pinions—constant never.
Be constant—and thou chainest time forever.

The will of a man is his happiness.

Threefold the stride of Time, from first to last!
Loitering slow, the Future creepeth —
Arrow-swift, the Present sweepeth —
And motionless forever stands the Past.

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, 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.

An die Freude (Ode to Joy; or Hymn to Joy) (1785)

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

An die Freude (Ode to Joy; or Hymn to Joy) (1785)

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!

An die Freude (Ode to Joy; or Hymn to Joy) (1785)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Friedrich Schiller (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.