“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

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Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel 67

German poet, critic and scholar 1772–1829

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

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Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel 67

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