Thou shalt not make unto thee any ideal, neither of an angel in heaven, nor of a hero in a poem or novel, nor one that is dreamed up or imagined: rather shalt thou love a man as he is.

Du sollst dir kein Ideal machen, weder eines Engels im Himmel, noch eines Helden aus einem Gedicht oder Roman, noch eines selbstgeträumten oder fantasirten; sondern du sollst einen Mann lieben, wie er ist.

Original text (German)

Another quote →

Notes from Wikiquote

Philosophical Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), “Athenaeum Fragments,” § 364

More quotes by Friedrich Schlegel

All Friedrich Schlegel quotes →

Attribution

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