Versatility of education can be found in our best poetry, but the depth of mankind should be found in the philosopher.

Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it.

If you want to penetrate into the heart of physics, then let yourself be initiated into the mysteries of poetry.

The French Revolution, Fichte's Theory of Knowledge, and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister are the three greatest tendencies of the age. Whoever takes offence at this combination, and whoever does not consider a revolution important unless it is blatant and palpable, has not yet risen to the lofty and broad vantage point of the history of mankind.

The need to raise itself above humanity is humanity's main characteristic.

What is called good society is usually nothing but a mosaic of polished caricatures.

The difference between religion and morality lies simply in the classical division of things into the divine and the human, if one only interprets this correctly.