He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
— Friedrich SchillerPrologue
Use itEssay conclusion: excellent service to one's own age leaves a legacy for all ages.
Quotes / Thinkers / Friedrich Schiller
Thinker · 21 quotes
Friedrich Schiller quotes for UPSC
21 sourced quotes by Friedrich Schiller on justice & rule of law, democracy & freedom, duty & responsibility, peace, non-violence & conflict, courage, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
✓ Attributions checked against Wikiquote's sourced list
The dignity of mankind is in your hands; protect it! It sinks with you! With you it will ascend.
Use itGS4: each person, especially public servants, holds humanity's dignity in their conduct.
To save all we must risk all.
— Friedrich SchillerFiesco, in Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy (1783) Act IV, Sc vi
Use itEssay on bold decisions: big gains sometimes demand risking everything.
I have only an office here, and no opinion.
Use itGS4: political neutrality of civil servants; office demands duty over personal opinion.
It is an unfailing maxim, that if policy enjoins an act of violence, its execution must never be entrusted to the violent.
— Friedrich SchillerThe Thirty Years War
Use itGS4/GS2 police reform: entrust coercive power only to the restrained, never the violent.
Whatever is not forbidden is permitted.
— Friedrich SchillerPrologue
Use itGS2: principle of liberty for citizens; contrast with state powers that need legal authority.
Law can only be applied to foreseeable cases.
— Friedrich SchillerHistory of the Thirty Years War - Volume II
Use itGS4/GS2: laws can't foresee everything; need for discretion, conscience and ethical judgment.
The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.
— Friedrich SchillerAs quoted in A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors, Both Ancient and Modern (1891) edite
Use itGS2: majority will isn't automatically just; justify judicial review and fundamental rights.
One cannot prevent people from thinking what they please.
Use itGS2/Essay: freedom of thought cannot be suppressed; limits of censorship.
Man is created free, and is free, Though he be born in chains.
— Friedrich SchillerDie Worte des Glaubens (The Word of the Faithful), st. 2 (1797)
Use itEssay on inner freedom: humans remain free in spirit even under oppression.
Votes should be weighed, not counted. Sooner or later, the state will be wrecked In which majority rules, and ignorance decides.
— Friedrich SchillerDemetrius (1804-1805)
Use itEssay counterpoint: tyranny of an ignorant majority; argue for informed voters and civic education.
The most pious man can't stay in peace If it doesn't please his evil neighbor.
— Friedrich SchillerAct IV, sc. iii, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (1980), p. 414
Use itGS2 IR: a peaceful nation still needs security when neighbours are hostile.
In circumstances where the law of force prevails, where security depends on power alone, the weakest party is naturally the most busy to place itself in a posture of defense.
— Friedrich SchillerHistory of the Thirty Years War - Volume II
Use itGS2 IR: explain security dilemma and arms races in an anarchic world order.
Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; we have frequently to exhaust the part of error, and even of folly, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom.
— Friedrich SchillerPrefatory Remarks
Use itEssay: wisdom often comes after exhausting error and extremes; value of learning from mistakes.
Many a crown shines spotless now That yet was deeply sullied in the winning.
Use itEssay on ends vs means: power that looks clean today may have been won by tainted means.
World history is the world's court.
Use itEssay conclusion: history ultimately judges nations and leaders.
It is through beauty that we arrive at freedom.
Use itEssay on art and freedom: aesthetic experience cultivates a free and refined mind.
Live with your century; but do not be its creature. Work for your contemporaries; but create what they need, not what they praise.
Use itGS4: serve people's real needs, not populist applause; useful for leadership and policy answers.
Don't let your heart depend on things That ornament life in a fleeting way! He who possesses, let him learn to lose, He who is fortunate, let him learn pain.
— Friedrich SchillerDie Braut von Messina (The Bride of Messina), Act IV, sc. iv (1803)
Use itLife/GS4: practise detachment from possessions, echoing the Gita's nishkama outlook.
What's old collapses, times change, And new life blossoms in the ruins.
— Friedrich SchillerAct IV, sc. ii, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (1980), p. 414
Use itEssay conclusion on change: new life blossoms from the ruins of the old.
Self Confidence has always been the parent of great actions.
— Friedrich SchillerHistory of the Thirty Years War - Volume II
Use itLife/Interview: self-confidence as the starting point of great achievements.