Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel: Philosophy

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel was German poet, critic and scholar. Explore interesting quotes on philosophy.

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel: 134 quotes7 likes

“Whoever does not philosophize for the sake of philosophy, but rather uses philosophy as a means, is a sophist.”

“Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #96
Athenäum (1798 - 1800)

“Whatever can be done while poetry and philosophy are separated has been done and accomplished. So the time has come to unite the two.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Was sich thun lässt, so lange Philosophie und Poesie getrennt sind, ist gethan und vollendet. Also ist die Zeit nun da, beyde zu vereinigen.
“Ideas,” Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991), § 108

“At the words “his philosophy, my philosophy,” one is always reminded of that line in Nathan: … “What kind of God is it who belongs to a man?””

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Bei den Ausdrücken, „Seine Philosophie”, „Meine Philosophie”, erinnert man sich immer an die Worte im Nathan: „Wem eignet Gott? Was ist das für ein Gott, der einem Menschen eignet?”
Lucinde and the Fragments, P. Firchow, trans. (1991) § 99, reference is to Lessing, Nathan der Weise

“You wanted to destroy philosophy and poetry in order to make room for religion and morality”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Du wolltest die Philosophie zerstören, und die Poesie, um Raum zu gewinnen für die Religion und Moral, die du verkanntest: aber du hast nichts zerstören können als dich selber.
“Selected Ideas (1799-1800)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (1968) #90

“Aphorisms are the true form of the universal philosophy.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Fragmente, sagen Sie, wären die eigentliche Form der Universalphilosophie.
“A” in “Selected Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)”, Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms, Ernst Behler and Roman Struc, trans. (Pennsylvania University Press:1968) #259
Athenäum (1798 - 1800)

“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

“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

“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

“The most important subject, and the first problem of philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of God; so far as this relates to science.
Should this restoration in the internal consciousness be fully understood, and really brought about, the object of pure philosophy is attained.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

The Philosophy of History (1852), Author's Preface