“If I only know what I am convinced of and have found out myself, if I really only know what I have experienced myself, then indeed I cannot say that I have the least knowledge about my vocation; I only know what others claim to know about it.”
Wenn ich nur dasjenige weiß, und von ihm überzeugt bin, was ich selbst gefunden, – nur dasjenige wirklich kenne, was ich selbst erfahren habe, so kann ich in der That nicht sagen, daß ich über meine Bestimmung das Geringste wisse; ich weiß blos, was Andre darüber zu wissen behaupten.
Source: The Vocation of Man (1800), P. Preuss, trans. (1987), p. 4
Original
Wenn ich nur dasjenige weiß, und von ihm überzeugt bin, was ich selbst gefunden, – nur dasjenige wirklich kenne, was ich selbst erfahren habe, so kann ich in der That nicht sagen, daß ich über meine Bestimmung das Geringste wisse; ich weiß blos, was Andre darüber zu wissen behaupten.
The Vocation of Man (1800)
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Johann Gottlieb Fichte 102
German philosopher 1762–1814Related quotes

“I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.”
Source: Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986), Void and Compensation (1947), p. 200

As quoted in Warum? Woher? Aber Wohin? by Hans Grimm, p. 14
Other remarks

As quoted in The Enlightened Mind (1991), edited by Stephen Mitchell
Context: Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer.
There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating.

The Masque of Balliol http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/2735.html (1880)

Quoted by many sites and blogs as "speech that Charlie Chaplin gave on his 70th birthday". Actually, a re-translation (from Portuguese-BR) of a text from the book "When I Loved Myself Enough" by Kim & Alison McMillen (2001). https://authorjoannereed.net/charlie-chaplin-self-love-poem-subtle-art-of-myth-busting/
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