“Do not smile at my advice -- the advice of a dreamer who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, and philosophers of nature. Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder is of true Germanic character; it is not very nimble, but rumbles along ponderously. Yet, it will come and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world's history, then you know that the German thunderbolt has fallen at last. At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in the remotest deserts of Africa will hide in their royal dens. A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll.”

— Heinrich Heine

"The History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany" (1834)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Do not smile at my advice -- the advice of a dreamer who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, and philosophers of nat…" by Heinrich Heine?

Heinrich Heine 61

German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic 1797–1856

Related quotes

“And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.”

Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator

"A Song On the End of the World"

“Probable nor'east to sou'west winds, varying to the soutard and westard and eastard and points between; high and low barometer, sweeping round from place to place; probable areas of rain, snow, hail, and drought, succeeded or preceded by earthquakes with thunder and lightning.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

New England Weather, speech to the New England Society (December 22, 1876)

“Did you ever see anybody so disgusting: said lightning to thunder, "never," growled thunder, "let's give him the works.”

William Steig Shrek!

Source: Shrek!

“…I said everything that matters… Don't take my advice. Or anyone's advice. Trust yourself. For good or for bad, happy or unhappy, it's your life, and what you do with it has always been entirely up to you.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Evelyn Collier, Chapter 15, p. 223
Source: 2009, The Best of Me (2011)

“The time for war has not yet come, but it will come, and that soon; and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

Speech to cadets at the Virginia Military Institute (March 1861); as quoted in Mighty Stonewall (1957) by Frank E. Vandiver, p. 131; this has sometimes been paraphrased as "When war does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard."