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Novels are the Socratic dialogs of our time. This free form has become the refuge of common sense in its flight from pedantry.

— Friedrich Schlegel

Die Romane sind die sokratischen Dialoge unserer Zeit. In diese liberale Form hat sich die Lebensweisheit vor der Schulweisheit geflüchtet.

Original text (German)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), “Critical Fragments,” § 26

More quotes by Friedrich Schlegel

Life is writing. The sole purpose of mankind is to engrave the thoughts of divinity onto the tablets of nature.

Expect nothing more from philosophy than a voice, language and grammar of the instinct for Godliness that lies at its origin, and, essentially, is philosophy itself.

To live classically and to realize antiquity practically within oneself is the summit and goal of philology.

There are people with whom everything they consider a means turns mysteriously into an end.

Morality has always had a difficult time of it; utility and legality even begrudge the fact of its existence.

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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.