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…nothing in Nature stands still; everything strives and moves forward. If we could only view the first stages of creation, how the kingdoms of nature were built one upon the other, a progression of forward-striving forces would reveal itself in all evolution.

— Johann Gottfried Herder Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (1784)

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More quotes by Johann Gottfried Herder

The craving for a delicate fruit is pleasanter than the fruit itself.

"Tell me, O wise man, how hast thou come to know so astonishingly much?"
By never being ashamed to ask of those that knew!

Each strives with each, as each is pressed upon; each must provide for his own subsistence, and defend his own life.

We live in a world we ourselves create.

Übers Erkennen und Empfinden in der menschlichen Seele (1774)

Nowhere on earth does the rose of happiness blossom without thorns; but what bursts forth out of these thorns is everywhere and in various guises the transient, yet beautiful rose of man's joy in living.

Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (1784)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Johann Gottfried Herder (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.