Once the state has been founded, there can no longer be any heroes. They come on the scene only in uncivilized conditions.
— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
When liberty is mentioned, we must always be careful to observe whether it is not really the assertion of private interests which is thereby designated.
The Few assume to be the deputies, but they are often only the despoilers of the Many.
An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think.
I'm not ugly, but my beauty is a total creation.
The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.
Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.
To him who looks upon the world rationally, the world in its turn presents a rational aspect. The relation is mutual.
Animals are in possession of themselves; their soul is in possession of their body. But they have no right to their life, because they do not will it.
Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help.
It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in Providence, than to see their real import and value.
Too fair to worship, too divine to love.
Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature.
Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.
The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.
We do not need to be shoemakers to know if our shoes fit, and just as little have we any need to be professionals to acquire knowledge of matters of universal interest.
World history is a court of judgment.
Governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deducted from it.
All that is real is reasonable, and all that is reasonable is real.
Education is the art of making man ethical.
Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.
