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“Life is writing. The sole purpose of mankind is to engrave the thoughts of divinity onto the tablets of nature.”

“On Philosophy: To Dorothea,” in Theory as Practice (1997), p. 420

“Through artists mankind becomes an individual, in that they unite the past and the future in the present. They are the higher organ of the soul, where the life spirits of entire external mankind meet and in which inner mankind first acts.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Durch die Künstler wird die Menschheit ein Individuum, indem sie Vor welt und Nachwelt in der Gegenwart verknüpfen. Sie sind das höhere Seelenorgan, wo die Lebensgeister der ganzen 15 äussern Menschheit zusammentreffen und in welchem die innere zunächst wirkt.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #64 [cf. Heidegger]

“In the same way as philosophy loses sight of its true object and appropriate matter, when either it passes into and merges in theology, or meddles with external politics, so also does it mar its proper form when it attempts to mimic the rigorous method of mathematics.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Philosophy of Life, Lecture 1

“There are people with whom everything they consider a means turns mysteriously into an end.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Philosophical Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991) § 428

“It is equally fatal for the spirit to have a system and to have none. One must thus decide to join the two.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

As quoted in Divine Madness : On Interpreting Literature, Music, and The Visual Arts Ironically (2002) by Lars Elleström, p. 50
Variant translations, of the paradoxical statement which begins in German with Es ist gleich tödlich für den Geist, ein System zu haben, und keins zu haben.:
It is equally fatal for the spirit, to have a system and not to have.
The Innovations of Idealism (2003) by Rüdiger Bubner, p. 193
It is equally fatal for the spirit to have a system and to have none. It will simply have to decide to combine the two.
As quoted in Friedrich Schlegel and the Emergence of Romantic Philosophy (2007) by Elizabeth Millán-Zaibert, p. 203
It is equally fatal for the spirit to have a system, and to have none. So the spirit must indeed resolve to combine the two.
As quoted in Hegel : Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1825-6 : Volume I, (2009) by Robert F. Brown, footnote, p. 59

“The artist should have as little desire to rule as to serve. He can only create, do nothing but create, and so help the state only by … exalting politicians and economists into artists.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Der Künstler darf eben so wenig herrschen als dienen wollen. 15 Er kann nur bilden, nichts als bilden, für den Staat also nur das thun, dass er Herrscher und Diener bilde, dass er Politiker und Oekonomen zu Künstlern erhebe.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 54

“Romantic poetry … recognizes as its first commandment that the will of the poet can tolerate no law above itself.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Philosophical Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991) § 116

“The need to raise itself above humanity is humanity’s prime characteristic.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Es ist der Menschheit eigen, dass sie sich über die Menschheit erheben muss.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991) § 21

“An artist is he for whom the goal and center of life is to form his mind.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Künstler ist ein jeder, dem es Ziel und Mitte des Daseyns ist, seinen Sinn zu bilden.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) # 20

“One has only as much morality as one has philosophy and poetry.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Man hat nur so viel Moral, als man Philosophie und Poesie hat.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #62

“Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Wo Politik ist oder Oekonomie, da ist keine Moral.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (1968) #101

“Morality without sense for paradox is vulgar.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Moralität ohne Sinn für Paradoxie ist gemein.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 76

“Only by being cultivated does a human being … become altogether human and permeated by humanity.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Nur durch die Bildung wird der Mensch, der es ganz ist überall menschlich und von Menschheit durchdrungen.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 65

“Take playfulness seriously, and you will apprehend what is at the center and rediscover your revered art in a more sublime light.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Deute den lieblichen Schein und mache Ernst aus dem Spiel, so wirst du das Centrum fassen und die verehrte Kunst in höherm Lichte wieder finden.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 109

“The life of the artist should be distinguished from that of all other people, even in external habits. They are Brahmins, a higher caste, not ennobled by birth, however, but through deliberate self-initiation.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Selbst in den äusserlichen Gebräuchen sollte sich die Lebensart der Künstler von der Lebensart der übrigen Menschen durchaus unterscheiden. Sie sind Braminen, eine höhere Kaste, aber nicht durch Geburt sondern durch freye Selbsteinweihung geadelt.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) # 146
Variant translation: Even in their outward behavior, the lives of artists should differ completely from the lives of other men. They are Brahmins, a higher caste: ennobled not by birth, but by free self-consecration.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 146

“Like the Roman senators, true artists are a nation of kings.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Wie die Senatoren der Römer sind die wahren Künstler ein Volk von Königen.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 114

“Novels are the Socratic dialogs of our time. This free form has become the refuge of common sense in its flight from pedantry.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Die Romane sind die sokratischen Dialoge unserer Zeit. In diese liberale Form hat sich die Lebensweisheit vor der Schulweisheit geflüchtet.
Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), “Critical Fragments,” § 26

“Expect nothing more from philosophy than a voice, language and grammar of the instinct for Godliness that lies at its origin, and, essentially, is philosophy itself.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

“On Philosophy: To Dorothea,” in Theory as Practice (1997), p. 421

“True virtue is genius.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Die wahre Tugend ist Genialität.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #36

“The doctrine of the transmigration of souls was indigenous to India and was brought into Greece by Pythagoras.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

quoted in Londhe, S. (2008). A tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and wisdom spanning continents and time about India and her culture. New Delhi: Pragun Publication.