Quotes by Johann Gottfried von Herder

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Art is in human nature. All his dispositions can and must in time acquire the form of artistic perfection.

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The poetic form especially is so dependent on thought and feeling that without them it presents itself only as a beautifully chiseled block.

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Form means a lot in art, but not everything. The most beautiful forms of antiquity are animated by a spirit, a great idea, which makes form form and reveals itself in it as in its body. Remove this soul, and the form is a mask...

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Knowing intelligent thoughts is an excellent exercise, it fertilizes the mind and sharpens the thinking.

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From history we accumulate experience, on the basis of which the liveliest part of our practical mind is formed.

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True greatness is based on understanding one's own strength, false greatness on knowing the weaknesses of others.

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Beauty needs no additional adornments and is most adorned by the absence of adornments.

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It is not the punishment that is shameful, but the crime.

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Work is a healing balm, a fountain of virtue.

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If man's tongue is weak, cumbersome, confused, unclear, uneducated, then probably the mind is also the same, because man thinks only through language.

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The greatest tyrants on earth are chance and time.

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What does human education consist of? What should she rely on? As. All the laws of nature are subject to it, as are all our clear and correct concepts, our beautiful and noble feelings of applying our forces to our goodness, happiness, and delight: only measure nourishes and educates us, measure forms and preserves creation.

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In solitude, man is a powerless being, but in communion with others he becomes strong. The penetrating look of the friend, able to reach the heart, his advice, his caresses remove and lift everything that oppresses him.

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My job is not to think, but to be, to feel, to live!

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Although man longs for harmony, nature knows well that struggle is more useful for the survival of the species.

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Man will probably always remain man, according to the analogy of all things, nothing but man! Angelic and devilish figure in man - novel characters! Nothing but a middle being between defiance and despondency, aspiring in need, weak in idleness and plenty, nothing for want of motive and practice, by which slowly progressing is pretty much everything.

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Living human forces are the driving forces of human history.

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To whom much is given, much is expected.

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Time! - who holds it up? To enjoy it before it takes off, To catch it in a swift run: This is how your heart can hope for it. Desire what no other image can give... - Life is a fast journey, Let's sprinkle it with roses!

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If you want to respect posterity, respect posterity yourself.

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One can easily learn from artistic taste.