Fragments from German Prose Writers. Translated by S. Austin. Illustrated with notesJohn Murray, 1841 - 359 pages |
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Page ix
... called upon to point out the quality which strikes me as the most pro- minent and pervading in that of Germany , I should say , it is earnestness . I have ventured to express an opinion that wit and humour are not the strong points of ...
... called upon to point out the quality which strikes me as the most pro- minent and pervading in that of Germany , I should say , it is earnestness . I have ventured to express an opinion that wit and humour are not the strong points of ...
Page x
... called familiar trains of thought , which meet one in a foreign literature like old friends in a far country ; others suggested ideas altogether new and strange . My readers must , therefore , apply measures as dif- ferent as those ...
... called familiar trains of thought , which meet one in a foreign literature like old friends in a far country ; others suggested ideas altogether new and strange . My readers must , therefore , apply measures as dif- ferent as those ...
Page 18
... is done imperfectly and inade- quately . As soon as a man dies , there is the greatest eagerness to take a cast of him ; this mask is set upon a block , and the work is called a 18 AFTER all, the noblest and most beautiful monu- ...
... is done imperfectly and inade- quately . As soon as a man dies , there is the greatest eagerness to take a cast of him ; this mask is set upon a block , and the work is called a 18 AFTER all, the noblest and most beautiful monu- ...
Page 19
German prose writers, Sarah AUSTIN. upon a block , and the work is called a bust . How rarely is it in the power of the artist to reanimate it ! The likeness of a man is wholly independent ; wherever it may be placed , it speaks for ...
German prose writers, Sarah AUSTIN. upon a block , and the work is called a bust . How rarely is it in the power of the artist to reanimate it ! The likeness of a man is wholly independent ; wherever it may be placed , it speaks for ...
Page 33
... called ( rightly enough with reference to the literal mean- ing of the term , but very falsely as regards that which we now attach to it , ) the Ideal of æsthetic greatness . It is the maximum of barbarians , and has , alas in these ...
... called ( rightly enough with reference to the literal mean- ing of the term , but very falsely as regards that which we now attach to it , ) the Ideal of æsthetic greatness . It is the maximum of barbarians , and has , alas in these ...
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admirable appear artist Batavi Battle of Sempach beautiful Berlin breath Briefwechsel called character child Clara Clemens Brentano dear death Egmont English enlightened eyes faith father feeling Fichte flowers Frau Frederic French gay meadows genius German German literature give Goethe Goethe's hand happy heart heaven highest honour human Jean Paul JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR Justus Möser Kant king knowledge Königsberg labour language Lenette less letters light literature living look Lothair means ment mind moral mother Müller nations nature ness never noble Novalis opinions Osnabrück Otfried Müller philosophical poet poetry prince Prussia published racter regard Regent religion remarkable rendered Roman Roman law Schlegel singular society soul speak spirit style taste thee thing thou thought Tieck tion tranquil translation true truth whole wish women words writer
Popular passages
Page 227 - Enlightenment is man's emergence from his selfincurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another.
Page 40 - ... flattery; forego the gracious pressure of the hand, for which others cringe and crawl. Wrap yourself in your own virtue, and seek a friend, and your daily bread. If you have, in such a course, grown gray with unblenched honour, bless God, and die.
Page 146 - To have freedom, is only to have that which is absolutely necessary to enable us to be what we ought to be, and to possess what we ought to possess.
Page 40 - The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness : one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging, — alike at all hours ; above all, of a golden temper, and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one, we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker.
Page 90 - ... sweet motherly love with which Nature has gifted her; it is almost independent of cold reason, and wholly removed from all selfish hope of reward. Not because it is lovely, does the mother love her child, but because it is a living part of herself,— the child of her heart, a fraction of her own nature. Therefore do her...
Page 233 - ... with respect to it, as a priest, he is not free, nor can he be free, because he carries out the orders of another. But as a scholar, whose writings speak to his public, the world, the clergyman in the public use of his reason enjoys an unlimited freedom to use his own reason and to speak in his own person.
Page 80 - The year is dying away,' says Goethe, ' like the sound of bells. The wind passes over the stubble, and finds nothing to move. Only the red berries of that slender tree seem as if they would fain remind us of something cheerful ; and the measured beat of the thresher's flail calls up the thought that in the dry and fallen ear lies so much of nourishment and life.
Page 72 - A certain degree of solitude seems necessary to the full growth and spread of the highest mind; and therefore must a very extensive intercourse with men stifle many a holy germ, and scare away the gods, who shun the restless tumult of noisy companies and the discussion of petty interests.
Page 26 - All his efforts are directed to the perfecting of his knowledge ; his noble impatience cannot be tranquillized till all his conceptions have arranged themselves into one harmonious whole ; till he stands at the central point of arts and sciences, and thence overlooks the whole extent of their dominion with satisfied glance. New discoveries in the field of his activity, which depress the trader in science, enrapture the philosopher. Perhaps they fill a chasm which the growth of his ideas had rendered...
Page 4 - The Last, Best Fruit of Life. —The last, best fruit which comes to late perfection, even in the kindliest soul, is tenderness toward the hard, forbearance toward the unforbearing, warmth of heart toward the cold, philanthropy toward the misanthropic.