Quotes from book
Hyperion

Hyperion
Friedrich Hölderlin Original title Hyperion oder Der Eremit in Griechenland (German, 1797)

Hyperion is an epistolary novel by German poet Friedrich Hölderlin. Originally published in two volumes in 1797 and 1799 , respectively, the full title is Hyperion; or, The Hermit in Greece . Each volume is divided into two books, with each second book including an epigraph from Sophocles. The work is told in the form of letters from the protagonist, Hyperion, to his German friend Bellarmin, alongside a few letters between Hyperion and his love Diotima in the second volume of the novel, and is noted for its philosophical classicism and expressive imagery.


Friedrich Hölderlin photo

“What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it heaven.

As translated by Michael Hamburger”

Hyperion
Original: (de) Immerhin hat das den Staat zur Hölle gemacht, daß ihn der Mensch zu seinem Himmel machen wollte.

Friedrich Hölderlin photo

“What is all that men have done and thought over thousands of years, compared with one moment of love. But in all Nature, too, it is what is nearest to perfection, what is most divinely beautiful!”

Hyperion
Context: What is all that men have done and thought over thousands of years, compared with one moment of love. But in all Nature, too, it is what is nearest to perfection, what is most divinely beautiful! There all stairs lead from the threshold of life. From there we come, to there we go.

Friedrich Hölderlin photo

“I call on Fate to give me back my soul.”

Hyperion

Friedrich Hölderlin photo
Friedrich Hölderlin photo

“It was not delight, not wonder that arose among us, it was the peace of heaven.”

Hyperion
Context: It was not delight, not wonder that arose among us, it was the peace of heaven.
A thousand times have I said it to her and to myself: the most beautiful is also the most sacred. And such was everything in her. Like her singing, even so was her life.

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