Without a notion of the transcendental, human beings would, indeed, be animals; however, only fools can be convinced of it, and only degenerates need such a conviction. – Franz Grillparzer
It’s the misfortune of German authors that not a single one of them dares to expose his true character. Everyone thinks that he has to be better than he is. – Franz Grillparzer
Whoever places his trust into a system will soon be without a home. While you are building your third story, the two lower ones have already been dismantled. – Franz Grillparzer
You even called me stupid in your verse, and I’m almost agreeing, for where stupidity is involved, you are quite an expert, friend. – Franz Grillparzer
Those who want to row on the ocean of human knowledge do not get far, and the storm drives those out of their course who set sail. – Franz Grillparzer
I look around me and nowhere do I see a stamp of disapproval with which nature marked a woman’s candid brow. – Franz Grillparzer
Poetry, it is often said and loudly so, is life’s true mirror. But a monkey looking into a work of literature looks in vain for Socrates. – Franz Grillparzer
There shall be no slave in your home, male or female: Least of all the mother of your son. – Franz Grillparzer
If someone were to think that trees are made to support the sky, they would all seem too short. – Franz Grillparzer
Ideas are not thoughts; the thought respects the boundaries that the idea ignores thereby failing to realize itself. – Franz Grillparzer
The ideas of an age are most abundant where they are not crowded by original ideas. – Franz Grillparzer
Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it, is important when you need it. – Franz Grillparzer
When the theater gates open, a mob pours inside, and it is the poet’s task to turn it into an audience. – Franz Grillparzer
The main reason why men and women make different aesthetic judgments is the fact that the latter, generally incapable of abstraction, only admire what meets their complete approval. – Franz Grillparzer
To test a modest man’s modesty do not investigate if he ignores applause, find out if he abides criticism. – Franz Grillparzer
This searching and doubting and vacillating where nothing is clear but the arrogance of quest. I, too, had such noble ideas when I was still a boy. – Franz Grillparzer
Mankind is getting smarter every day. Actually, it only seems so. At least we are making progress. We’re progressing, to be sure, ever more deeply into the forest. – Franz Grillparzer
Science and art, or by the same token, poetry and prose differ from one another like a journey and an excursion. The purpose of the journey is its goal, the purpose of an excursion is the process. – Franz Grillparzer
The uneducated person perceives only the individual phenomenon, the partly educated person the rule, and the educated person the exception. – Franz Grillparzer
If we notice a few errors in the work of a proven master, we may and even will often be correct; if we believe, however, that he is completely and utterly mistaken, we are in danger of missing his entire concept. – Franz Grillparzer
No one will stop to help you when you are in need, but everyone forces opinions upon you that you do not require. – Franz Grillparzer
Although your knowledge is weak and small, you need not be silent: since you cannot be judges be at least witnesses. – Franz Grillparzer
No shortcomings of other people cause us to be more intolerant than those which are caricatures of our own. – Franz Grillparzer
