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Every other art,—as poetry, music, painting,—may be practised without the process showing forth the rules according to which it is conducted ;—but in the self-cognizant art of the philosopher, no step can be taken without declaring the grounds upon which it proceeds.

— Johann Gottlieb Fichte The Characteristics of the Present Age (1806)

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Philosophy

More quotes by Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.

The Vocation of the Scholar (1794)

Humanity may endure the loss of everything: all its possessions may be torn away without infringing its true dignity; — all but the possibility of improvement.

The Vocation of the Scholar (1794)

By conscience alone comes truth and reality into my representations.

The Vocation of Man (1800)

The law of the transcendental world must, therefore, be a Will.

The Vocation of Man (1800)

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

letter (1791)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

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There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

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Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.

Martin Buber Power and Love (1926)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

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