Share your feelings with your loved ones with these best German quotes!
Best German quotes
Do you love Germany? Did you know Germany is home to some of the most brilliant minds in history? These quotes from the country’s best thinkers will show just how brilliant they were.
From philosophers to writers to scientists and beyond – these geniuses had a lot to say about the world around them. We feel that reading through them will change your perspective on everything, and we bet it will also inspire you.
Here are some of our favorite quotes from German philosophers and authors. Read through them and see if their words don’t help you see things differently!
Martin Heidegger
“We are always in the middle of the beginning.” Heidegger is one of the most famous and important philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
He is known for his philosophy of Being and is associated with the existentialist movement. He is one of the most translated German philosophers, with 36 translations recorded by the Aristotle University of Southern Greece.
Heidegger’s main influences were Parmenides, Heraclitus, the Greek Sophists, F. Schiller, and Plato. He was also greatly influenced by the German Romantics, J.G. Hamann and M. Schelling.
Heidegger’s major works are Being and Time, Basic Problems of Phenomenology, On Time and Being, What Is Called Thinking?, Poetry, Language, Thought, Being and Time, On Nature, Identity and Difference, and What Is Called Thinking? The End of Philosophy, and Introduction to Metaphysics.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Whoever writes a great book in his youth will not become old before he has written two great books.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is known as one of the greatest German authors.
He is often referred to as the “Weimar Kleist” because he was part of the same literary circle as the German playwright and dramatist August von Kleist.
Kleist greatly influenced the dramatization of the Faust story. Goethe’s other main works include The Sorrows of Young Werther, The Elective Affinities, The Metamorphosis of Plants, The Theory of Colours.
The Young Werther, Elective Affinities, Newton’s Dreams, The Sand-Reckoner, The Complete Prose Works of Goethe, Faust, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, The Wanderer and His Shadow, The Elective Affinities, and Faust and Margarete.
Friedrich Nietzsche
“What does the world want? What does the artist want? Is not the world too much for us? And is the artist too much for the world? Only those who are too much for the world find the world too much.”
Nietzsche is one of the most important philosophers in the history of the world. He broke down the traditional barriers between art and life and considered both important.
This approach is reflected in many of his writings, including The Birth of Tragedy, The Gay Science, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Nietzsche’s other main works are Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, The Case of Wagner, The Antichrist, The Case of Socrates, Ecce Homo, The Will to Power, The Birth of Tragedy, Human, All Too Human, Beyond Good and Evil, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Ecce Homo, and The Case of Wagner.
Albert Einstein
“The significant problems we face are not solved by sweating over hard books but by sweat equity.” Einstein is considered by many to be the most important mind in human history.
His contributions to physics, math, and philosophy are too many to list but include his proposal of the general theory of relativity and the photoelectric effect.
His other major works include A System of the World, Ideas and Opinions, Letters on Natural Science, The World As I See It, and Ideas and Opinions.
Hans-Georg Gadamer
“We are what we read.” Gadamer is one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. Most of his work is concerned with the relationship between truth and beauty and art’s role in society.
His other major works include Truth and Method, Truth and Method, Philosophical Hermeneutics, The History of Philosophy, and Truth and Method.
Friedrich Schiller
“The more our culture advances, the more it will be obliged to rely on the aid of poets.” Friedrich Schiller is one of the most important German poets and playwrights.
His most famous work is The Robbers, which is considered to be the first modern play. He also wrote numerous essays, poems, and plays.
Some of his most notable works include On Naive and Sentimental Poetry, On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Constitutional Articles, The Complete Poetical Works, The Schiller Institute, and The Robbers.
Immanuel Kant
“To see what is right, let us examine what is wrong.” Kant was one of the most famous philosophers during the Enlightenment period.
His main work, the Critique of Pure Reason, was the culmination of the scientific method. In addition to his main work, Kant wrote on ethics, aesthetics, and linguistics.
His most notable works include The Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of the Pure Reason, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Pure Reason, and On the Common Saying:
That may be correct in theory, but in practice, they are not always able to do so.
Hannah Arendt
“Truth is a great deal like a river. The further you travel down its bank, the deeper the water seems. But the more you travel upstream, the higher the water seems to soar over its banks.”
Arendt’s most notable works include The Human Condition, Between Past and Future, and The Life of The Mind. Arendt was a German-American political theorist and was one of the most important philosophers of the mid-twentieth century.
She was known for her analysis of totalitarianism and was highly critical of many aspects of contemporary society.
Richard Wagner
“Art is a mirror; it reflects the artist but does not create the artist. Humanity must create the artist. But, if humanity perishes, the artist will die with it.”
Wagner is one of the most famous Germans of all time. His music helped to shape the German identity, and he was a major influence on modern architecture.
Wagner is most famous for his operas, which are often considered among the greatest works in music history. His most famous works include The Ring Cycle, The Musical Poem, and Tannhauser.
Final words
Germany is a country full of brilliant minds, and there is no better way to appreciate this than by reading quotes from the country’s greatest thinkers. Plus, you can find amazing German food, amazing German culture, and amazing German literature there.
From philosophy to art, these are some of the greatest quotes from Germany’s great minds, and they will change your perspective on the world around you.