4624 Quotes by German authors

German quotations carry a lucid, handcrafted cadence, part philosophical drill, part tender confession. They weigh duty against freedom, time against longing, with dry humor that arrives like a raised eyebrow. Proverbs sharpen common sense; poets invite Sehnsucht and the hush of winter light. Think of clear nouns, patient syntax, and a habit of asking why until the truth stands bare. Between practicality and metaphysics, irony and earnestness, they sketch a moral landscape where words are tools, companions, and sometimes rescue.

See the complete list of authors from Germany

"Play is the exultation of the possible"

Martin Buber, Philosopher

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"

Martin Buber, Philosopher

"The distinguishing characteristics of mind are of a subjective sort; we know them only from the contents of our own consciousness"

Wilhelm Wundt, Psychologist

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego'"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"These people abstain, it is true: but the bitch Sensuality glares enviously out of all they do"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"The press, the machine, the railway, the telegraph are premises whose thousand-year conclusion no one has yet dared to draw"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

Small: Albert Einstein

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

Small: Albert Einstein

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

Small: Albert Einstein

"It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself"

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Writer

Small: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should"

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Writer

Small: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them - they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship"

Rainer Maria Rilke, Poet

"Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time"

Jean Paul, Author

Small: Jean Paul

"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State"

Heinrich Himmler, Criminal

Small: Heinrich Himmler

"The world promises you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness"

Pope Benedict XVI, Pope

Small: Pope Benedict XVI

"Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world"

Wilhelm II, Statesman

Small: Wilhelm II

"I am the Roman Emperor, and am above grammar"

Emperor Sigismund, Statesman

"The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything"

Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher

Small: Friedrich Nietzsche

"Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong"

Adolf Hitler, Criminal

Small: Adolf Hitler

"As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice"

Adolf Hitler, Criminal

Small: Adolf Hitler

"Great liars are also great magicians"

Adolf Hitler, Criminal

Small: Adolf Hitler

"The only source of knowledge is experience"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

Small: Albert Einstein

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious"

Albert Einstein, Physicist

Small: Albert Einstein

"You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say"

Martin Luther, Professor

Small: Martin Luther

"Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays"

Friedrich Schiller, Dramatist

Small: Friedrich Schiller

"A harmful truth is better than a useful lie"

Thomas Mann, Writer

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing"

Albert Schweitzer, Theologian

Small: Albert Schweitzer

"All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions: 1. What can I know? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I hope?"

Immanuel Kant, Philosopher

Small: Immanuel Kant

"Mathematics is a game played according to certain simple rules with meaningless marks on paper"

David Hilbert, Mathematician

Small: David Hilbert

"Facts are not science - as the dictionary is not literature"

Martin H. Fischer, Author

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil"

Hannah Arendt, Historian

"Where no gods are, spectres rule"

Novalis, Poet

Small: Novalis

"Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise"

Karl Rahner, Theologian

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