Friedrich Schiller on Retirement
1759–1805 Germany
← All quotes by Friedrich Schiller
8 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!
The Moor has done his work, the Moor may go.
Time flies on restless pinions—constant never.
Be constant—and thou chainest time forever.
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.
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)