xy

Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern,
in keiner Not uns trennen und Gefahr.
Wir wollen frei sein, wie die Väter waren,
eher den Tod, als in der Knechtschaft leben.
Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott
und uns nicht fürchten vor der Macht der Menschen.
Act II, Sc. 2, as translated by C. T. Brooke
Variant translation: We shall be a single People of brethren,
Never to part in danger nor distress.
We shall be free, just as our fathers were,
And rather die than live in slavery.
We shall trust in the one highest God
And never be afraid of human power.
Wilhelm Tell (1803)

“Fortune, which had never forsaken him in his lifetime, favored the King of Sweden even in his death, with the rare privilege of falling in the fullness of his glory and an untarnished fame. By a timely death, his protecting genius rescued him from the inevitable fate of man - that of forgetting moderation in the intoxication of success, and justice in the plenitude of power.”

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright

History of the Thirty YEars War 178
The Thirty Years War

“Life is earnest, art is gay.”

Friedrich Schiller Wallenstein

Prologue
Wallenstein (1798), Prologue - Wallensteins Lager (Wallenstein's Camp)

“I am called
The richest monarch in the Christian world;
The sun in my dominion never sets.”

Friedrich Schiller Don Carlos

Act I, sc. vi
Don Carlos (1787)

“I have only an office here, and no opinion.”

Friedrich Schiller Wallenstein

Act I, sc. v
Wallenstein (1798), Part II - Wallensteins Tod (The Death of Wallenstein)

“In circumstances where the law of force prevails, where security depends on power alone, the weakest party is naturally the most busy to place itself in a posture of defense.”

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright

History of the Thirty Years War - Volume II
The Thirty Years War

“Don't let your heart depend on things
That ornament life in a fleeting way!
He who possesses, let him learn to lose,
He who is fortunate, let him learn pain.”

Friedrich Schiller The Bride of Messina

Die Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina), Act IV, sc. iv (1803)

“The Greeks put us to shame not only by their simplicity, which is foreign to our age; they are at the same time our rivals, nay, frequently our models, in those very points of superiority from which we seek comfort when regretting the unnatural character of our manners. We see that remarkable people uniting at once fullness of form and fullness of substance, both philosophising and creating, both tender and energetic, uniting a youthful fancy to the virility of reason in a glorious humanity.”

Friedrich Schiller book On the Aesthetic Education of Man

Letter 35
On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)

“You say it as you understand it.”

Friedrich Schiller Wallenstein

Act II, sc. vi
Wallenstein (1798), Part I - Die Piccolomini (The Piccolomini)

“While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.”

Friedrich Schiller book On the Aesthetic Education of Man

On the famous statue "Juno Ludovisi", Letter 15
On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)

“The joke loses everything when the joker laughs himself.”

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright

Die Verschwörung des Fiesco (The Conspiracy of Fiesco), Act I, sc. vii (1783)

“His Armies, weakened by defeat and defeat, dispirited by misfortune, had unlearned - under beaten generals - that warlike impetuosity which as it is the consequence, so it is the guarentee of success.”

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright

History of the Thirty Years War - Volume II
Attitude of the Imperial/League army after the protestant victory at Brietenfeld.
The Thirty Years War