This archive is a collection of previous daily quotations in German and English. You can find today's German quotation on our Zitat des Tages page.

A sampling of the daily quotations that have appeared on our daily Zitat des Tages Web page.

Note: These quotations have been collected from a variety of sources, including works in print, online and reader contributions. The resulting collection, i.e., the German and the English versions in these archives, may not be reproduced or used elsewhere without the express permission of Hyde Flippo and About.com. Single, individual quotations may be used for non-commercial or classroom purposes with this notice: “From the German Language site at About.com - http://german.about.com.”

Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Against stupidity even the gods struggle in vain.

   - Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) in Jungfrau von Orleans (1779)

Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht.
God is subtle but he is not malicious.

   - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Mehr dazu: This remark, made by Einstein at Princeton in 1921, is carved above a fireplace in Fine Hall at the university.

Es ist Arznei, nicht Gift, was ich dir reiche.
It is medicine, not poison, that I hand you.

   - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) in Nathan der Weise

Mehr dazu: Similar to Shakespeare's "Come cordial, not poison" ("Komm Medizin, nicht Gift") - "Romeo and Juliet"

Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weiber und Gesang,
Der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebelang.
Who doesn't love wine, women, and song
remains a fool his whole life long.

   - Martin Luther (1483-1546), but see below

Mehr dazu: These words seem to have first appeared in the Wandsbecker Boten newspaper in 1775, concluding with the line: "Sagt Doktor Martin Luther." Since Luther died over 200 years earlier, this legendary quotation probably never came from his pen. Bartlett's credits these lines to Johann Heinrich Voss (1751-1826).

Die Idee ist das Absolute, und alles Wirkliche ist nur Realisierung der Idee.
The idea is the absolute, and all that is real is but the realization of the idea.

   - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

Wo viel Licht ist,
ist starker Schatten.
Where there's much light,
there's strong shadow.

   - J.W. Goethe (1749-1832) in Götz von Berlichingen (1773)

Ein guter Gesang wischt den Staub vom Herzen.
A good song wipes the dust from the heart.

   - Christoph Lehmann (1570-1638)

Ungeduld ist Angst.
Impatience is fear.

   - Stefan Zweig (1881-1942)

Mehr dazu: Austrian author and playwright. A friend of and influenced by Sigmund Freud. Became a British subject in 1938. Committed suicide in South America.

Was sich überhaupt sagen lässt, lässt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
What can be said at all can be said clearly; and about that of which one cannot speak, one must stay silent.

   - Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

Mehr dazu: From the preface of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922). The mathematician and philosopher Wittgenstein was born in Austria, but became a British subject in 1938.

Kunst gibt nicht das Sichtbare wieder, sondern macht sichtbar.
Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes things visible.

   - Paul Klee (1879-1940), Swiss-born artist

Das Leben ist eine Fremdsprache. Alle Menschen sprechen es falsch aus.
Life is a foreign language. All men mispronounce it.

   - Christopher Morley (1890-1957), American writer and editor of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1937-1948).

Man lobt in Tode manchen Mann,
der Lob im Leben nie gewann.
Many a man is praised in death,
who never won praise in life.

   - Freidank (died 1233), "Bescheidenheit 25, Vom Lobe"

Mehr dazu: "Freidank" (Freidenker = free thinker) is the name given to the unknown author of the Germanic didactic poem "Bescheidenheit" ("Humility").

Note: These quotations have been collected from a variety of sources, including works in print, online and reader contributions. The resulting collection, i.e., the German and the English versions in these archives, may not be reproduced or used elsewhere without the express permission of Hyde Flippo and About.com. Single, individual quotations may be used for non-commercial or classroom purposes with this notice: “From the German Language site at About.com - http://german.about.com.”

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Today's quotation in German and English.

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Today's word or phrase of the day.

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