110+ Franz Grillparzer Quotes On Education, Communism And Religion

Franz Grillparzer was an Austrian writer and dramatist during the 19th century. He wrote plays and narrative poetry, and is considered one of the most important Austrian writers of the Biedermeier period. Grillparzer's works were often melancholy and focused on the suffering of individuals in their struggle with the world, a theme that was typical of the Biedermeier period. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Franz Grillparzer on education, life, communism.

Top 10 Franz Grillparzer Quotes

1. I look around me and nowhere do I see a stamp of disapproval with which nature marked a woman's candid brow.
2. Genius unrefined resembles a flash of lightning, but wisdom is like the sun.
3. History is the zoology of the human race.
4. I love the pride whose measure is its own eminence and not the insignificance of someone else.
5. Someone who is reluctant to say what he needs to say, often ends up doing so with an insolence whose crassness is proportionate tohis fear, once he gathers the necessary courage.
6. The cradle of the future is the grave of the past.
7. A woman's passion is not the measure of a man's love.
8. To test a modest man's modesty do not investigate if he ignores applause, find out if he abides criticism.
9. Once you have looked at the land from atop the Kahlenberg, you will understand what I write and who I am.
10. To declaim freedom verses seems like a poem within a poem; freedom requires guns, it requires arms, but no feet.

Franz Grillparzer Short Quotes

• Plato calls complacency the companion of loneliness.
• The ideas of an age are most abundant where they are not crowded by original ideas.
• Prose talks and poetry sings.
• A wise man can and should stand above his times, not so the poet, but he should be their apex.
• Oh that wisdom was half as zealous for converts as ridicule.
• Progress will always have as its recourse to exaggerate what it cannot surpass.
• The course of modern learning leads from humanism via nationalism to bestiality.
• Feeling and thinking are actually the blind man who carries the lame.
• Reason and the ability to use it are two separate skills.
• The noble woman is half a man, even a complete one. Only their imperfections make them women.

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Life

Even with limited intelligence, knowing oneself is not as difficult as some say, but to act according to what one has realized about oneself in real life is as difficult as practicing anything else, compared to theory. — Franz Grillparzer

Moons and years pass by and are gone forever, but a beautiful moment shimmers through life a ray of light. — Franz Grillparzer

A pious woman's neighbor, a philanthropist's child, a liberal's servant--these three have a hard life. — Franz Grillparzer

Who claims that the heathen's view of the world is incorrect? Life gives you nothing! It is ruled by false gods! Nothing remains true to you but your own self; provided you remain true to it. — Franz Grillparzer

I notice well that one stray step from the habitual path leads irresistibly into a new direction. Life moves forward, it never reverses its course. — Franz Grillparzer

In early times, before the floods swept across the world, there was life, albeit odd, as one can see from the fossils of mammoth bones, and there was the regime of Prince Metternich. — Franz Grillparzer

Human life, old and young, takes place between hope and remembrance. The young man sees all the gates to his desires open, and the old man remembers--his hopes. — Franz Grillparzer

The manifestation of poetry in external life is formal perfection. True sentiment grows within, and art must represent internal phenomena externally. — Franz Grillparzer

Man lives two lives, woe, were it otherwise! One is seized by death, the other one, his honor, remains. — Franz Grillparzer

How frightening it is to have reached the height of human accomplishment in art that must forever borrow from life's abundance. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Religion

Christianity is the religion of melancholy and hypochondria. Islam, on the other hand, promotes apathy, and Judaism instills its adherents with a certain choleric vehemence, the heathen Greeks may well be called happy optimists. — Franz Grillparzer

The old harlot, German philosophy, has finally turned into a church lady. — Franz Grillparzer

Women, children, Tyroleans and preachers want to create a new kingdom of God, but the God of their kingdom looks like women, children, preachers, and Tyrolians. — Franz Grillparzer

Since people no longer attend church, theater remains as the only public service, and literature as the only private devotion. — Franz Grillparzer

The state has no religion for the simple reason that it has each and everyone. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Love

Love wants to be confirmed with concrete symbols, but recklessness loves instability. — Franz Grillparzer

Gold is the gift of vanity and common pride, but flowers are the gift of love and friendship. — Franz Grillparzer

A man may welcome his beloved with circumstance, but a woman's love and her concern for his well-being are discreet. — Franz Grillparzer

Pity, but never love bestows kind words upon the slave. — Franz Grillparzer

Since love is folly, a foolish woman is more dangerous than a wise one. — Franz Grillparzer

I would love to be able to write a tragedy in my imagination--it would turn into a masterpiece. — Franz Grillparzer

Why I love the ancients so much? Aside from everything else, when I read them, the entire past between them and me unfolds at thesame time. The hearts of how many heroes and poets may have been set on fire by Plutarch's biographies which now inspire me with their own and with borrowed flames! — Franz Grillparzer

Gold schenkt die Eitelkeit, der rauhe Stolz, Die Freundschaft und die Liebe schenken Blumen. Gold is the gift of vanityand pride, Friendship and love offer flowers. — Franz Grillparzer

My anger thought you too ignoble for my love, and close examination finds you too magnificent, and only equals are joined together smoothly. — Franz Grillparzer

How can you say that love is blind? Keener than a young eagle's is its sight. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Past

As youth lives in the future, so the adult lives in the past: No one rightly knows how to live in the present. — Franz Grillparzer

Why does the past look so enticing to us? For the same reason why from a distance a meadow with flowers looks like a flower bed. — Franz Grillparzer

Do old people always live in the past? What yesterday was firm and true, may not be so today. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Lives

The ramparts of Vienna are crumbling into the sand; no one wants to live so confined, however, the entire country is already surrounded by a Chinese wall! — Franz Grillparzer

The German mind, may it live! Almost invisible as a mind, it finally manifests itself assertively as a conviction. — Franz Grillparzer

A love that dies has never lived. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Quotes About Rightly

Beauty satisfies the senses completely and at the same time uplifts the soul. That which gratifies the senses is pleasant, and that which uplifts the soul without being sensual in the least is good, true, right, anything you like, but not beautiful. — Franz Grillparzer

Right and proof are two crutches for everything bent and crooked that limps along. — Franz Grillparzer

Disregard for the consequences and for right and wrong nowadays passes as energy. — Franz Grillparzer

Two soldiers and a villain are enough to blow up the rights of the citizens. — Franz Grillparzer

Trousers and the reputation of not being a thief are similar in the following way: There is no particular honor in having them butonce they are lost, everyone thinks they have the right to insult us. — Franz Grillparzer

The prince exults whomever he selects as his consort, but the queen, rather than elevating the subject of her choice, humiliates him as a man. By all that is right, a man is not intended to be the husband of his wife, but a woman is to be her husband's wife. — Franz Grillparzer

Finally and long overdue, your people, oppressed and disgraced by hatred and maliciousness, have achieved justice: now you enjoy full citizen's rights, but you'll remain Jews nonetheless. — Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer Famous Quotes And Sayings

The way in which modern German poetry follows theories reminds me of pupils who, scolded by their teacher for their insubordination, justify themselves by saying that they invented new rules of propriety according to which they are quite well- behaved. — Franz Grillparzer

Just as the queen bee, the highest-ranking, peerless creature of her hive, is surrounded by lowly drones to please her, whereas the workers produce honey, the same way is the one who sits on the throne an equal only to himself, and no one's companion. — Franz Grillparzer

No shortcomings of other people cause us to be more intolerant than those which are caricatures of our own. — Franz Grillparzer

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

Boundless in your charity, but shrewd and cautious as a lender, you delight all those today whom you made beggars the day before. — 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

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

In order to succeed in a profession, a person not only needs to have its good, but also its bad qualities. The former are the spirit, the latter is the body of the job. — 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

Ideas are not thoughts; the thought respects the boundaries that the idea ignores thereby failing to realize itself. — Franz Grillparzer

A heart that overflows may seek out merrymaking and boisterous festivities to quietly rejoice, unnoticed amidst the reveling crowds. — Franz Grillparzer

Isn't it awful that cold feet make for a cold imagination and that a pair of woollen socks induce good thoughts! — 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

I am a woman, and even if I could proceed with harshness and rigidity, it would disgust me nonetheless. — Franz Grillparzer

The military and the clergy cause us much annoyance; the clergy and the military, they empty our wallets and rob our intelligence. — 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

Captivating the spirit of the age is a matter of great talent; being swept away by it characterizes an average mind. The two are as different from one another as activity and passivity. — 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

Is it true that one travels in order to know mankind? It is easier to get to know other people at home, but abroad one gets to know oneself. — Franz Grillparzer

No matter which word it is, when I pronounce repeatedly, it ends up sounding utterly ridiculous and meaningless to me. — Franz Grillparzer

A tailor can adapt to any medium, be it poetry, be it criticism. As a poet, he can mend, and with the scissors of criticism he candivide. — Franz Grillparzer

What's the meaning of all the pious clamor, condemning cocks and hens? Those who have no teeth are the greatest meat-haters. — Franz Grillparzer

A person who looks different all the time frightens me. Only one animal changes its skin: the snake. — Franz Grillparzer

Lap-dogs and blood-hounds enjoy the greatest respect at court; house-dogs and no dogs at all are not even considered. — Franz Grillparzer

The courts used to be, fair and square, the avengers of secular crimes; but nowadays they demand respect even for the criminal. — Franz Grillparzer

Let no one say that taking action is hard. Action is aided by courage, by the moment, by impulse, and the hardest thing in the world is making a decision. — Franz Grillparzer

Who could deny that our Austria is richer than any other country? As the saying goes: "We have money like manure. — Franz Grillparzer

The most irascible person is most likely to become apathetic in dangerous situations. — Franz Grillparzer

People of talent resemble a musical instrument more closely than they do a musician. Without outside help, they produce not a single sound, but given even the slightest touch, and a magnificent tune emanates from them. — Franz Grillparzer

Robespierre, this pedant of freedom! — Franz Grillparzer

Critics are reprimanded when they get sarcastic. How absurd! Is the torch of criticism supposed to shine without burning? — Franz Grillparzer

A cure by regression is homeopathic, like healing the damage done by ministers and ignorance with stupidity and Jesuits. — Franz Grillparzer

Never expect any recognition here--the system prohibits it. The cross is not affixed to the genius, no, the genius is affixed to the cross. — Franz Grillparzer

Prose and poetry are as different as food and drink. — Franz Grillparzer

It is fair to despise a cowardly man, but the female sex is strongest when it's weak. — Franz Grillparzer

You ardently strive for freedom, and I do wish you were free--but, rather than for your sake, so that government won't be. — Franz Grillparzer

The art of acting presupposes three phases: understanding a part, intuiting a part, and contemplating the essence of a part. — Franz Grillparzer

How great seems human progress when we consider where it began, and how insignificant, when we contemplate the goals for which itstrives. — Franz Grillparzer

Woman is the crown of all creation, but Man is the head who wears it, and even the servant is master in his house. — Franz Grillparzer

The character of the crowds is made up of mimicry and hostility. — Franz Grillparzer

Gratitude is a fickle thing, indeed. A person taking aim presses the weapon to his chest and cheek, but when he hits, he discardsit with indifference. — Franz Grillparzer

You can make the best of it and be content, or you can complain, it makes no difference. What does it matter that human beings judge the things that exist? — Franz Grillparzer

The Germans believe that, no matter where, they can get by on knowledge alone. Art, however, requires skill. — Franz Grillparzer

Strength, strength alone, is honorable, the German nation clamors in its majesty. But since it is hard to muster strength so suddenly, they have to make do with boorishness. — Franz Grillparzer

If only it were God's will that printed and written materials have as much influence on the people as the princes and their censors fear! Considering the countless good books we have, the world would have changed for the better a long time ago. — Franz Grillparzer

It's actually the spirit helping the spirit; it is the doctor, the bed, the potion. — 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

German radicalism: freedom-masturbation. — Franz Grillparzer

Why do villains have so much influence? Because the honest people are terribly dense. — Franz Grillparzer

Praised be the good willing women who understand and take part in the fun--the body is an exacting beater, and even the heart is made of flesh. — Franz Grillparzer

From a distance the rushing of the torrent delights and uplifts us, but it rocks us in a flimsy boat, we are overwhelmed by despair. The same applies to danger. — 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

The first indication of a young person's growing smarter is that he no longer understands the things which he used to consider quite intelligible and self-evident. — Franz Grillparzer

What are the characteristics of today's world so that one may recognize it by them?" It pays pensions and borrows money: credit and monuments. — Franz Grillparzer

Do you think that it is possible to have a mere taste of commonness? Either one hates it or makes common cause with it. — Franz Grillparzer

When we interpret nature, we refer phenomena that are rarely entirely unintelligible back to something that actually exists, but is equally unintelligible. — Franz Grillparzer

When mundane, lowly activities are at stake, too much insight is detrimental — far-sightedness errs in immediate concerns. — Franz Grillparzer

At certain times, men regard poetry merely as a bright flame, but to women it was, and always will be, a warm fire. — Franz Grillparzer

No spoon has yet destroyed a mouth, but the knife of war cuts portions that are hard to swallow. Perhaps the big mouths of the privileged are able to cope with them, but they dull the teeth of the little people and ruin their stomachs. — Franz Grillparzer

Let the famous not denounce fame. Far from being empty and meaningless, it fills those it touches with divine power. — Franz Grillparzer

In certain countries, people seem to be think that three asses together make one intelligent person. However, that is completely wrong. Several asses in concreto make the ass in abstracto and that is a most terrifying animal. — Franz Grillparzer

The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine. — Franz Grillparzer

If human beings are immortal, so are animals. If matter has the ability to remember, it also has the ability to think. — Franz Grillparzer

A book is quite a beautiful thing, even more so learning. Together, however, all they amount to is called book-learning. — Franz Grillparzer

The thing that pleases is not always good and, helas, the good thing does not always please. — Franz Grillparzer

Transcendence: that which transcends experience. — Franz Grillparzer

Chance arrives unannounced. It emerges, and when it leaves, we are lucky if the changes it has produced are only external. — 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

Why must ancients, and provided the same talent, be better than modern authors? Free to exploit the vast realm of the simpleand the natural, they did not have to be artificial in order to be original (which every artist aspires to be). — Franz Grillparzer

Why do comparisons of words and tone poems (poetry and music) never take into consideration that the word is a mere signifier, but that the sound, aside from being a signifier, is also an object? — Franz Grillparzer

Austrian soldiers are like horses: brave but easily frightened. — Franz Grillparzer

Life Lessons by Franz Grillparzer

1. Franz Grillparzer teaches us to strive for balance in our lives, to be mindful of our actions, and to remain humble in the face of adversity.
2. He encourages us to accept our fate and be thankful for the good that life has to offer us, while also recognizing our own limitations and striving to be the best version of ourselves.
3. He reminds us to be patient and kind to ourselves and others, and to take the time to appreciate the beauty of life’s small moments.