# Friedrich Schiller's best-known quotes

Schiller's lines that became everyday sayings in German, from William Tell, Wallenstein, The Song of the Bell and Ode to Joy, each with the work and speaker.

- 2 votes · 15 items
- Sep 16, 2024 · die_fernweh
- https://even.best/en/l/2102/friedrich-schiller-s-best-known-quotes

## Top 14

1. **An axe in the house saves calling the carpenter.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — William Tell, III, 1 / Tell.
2. **If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few; pleasing many is bad.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Tabulae votivae.
3. **The wise man plans ahead.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — William Tell, I, 2 / Gertrud.
4. **Through this narrow pass he has to come; there is no other road to Küssnacht.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — William Tell, IV, 3 / Tell.
5. **Even the most devout cannot live in peace if it does not please his wicked neighbour.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — William Tell, IV, 3 / Tell.
6. **Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Maid of Orleans, III, 6 / Talbot.
7. **Life is serious, art is cheerful.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Wallenstein's Camp, prologue.
8. **The clock does not strike for the happy.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Piccolomini, III, 3 / Max Piccolomini.
9. **You come late – but you come!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Piccolomini, I, 1 / Illo.
10. **So let those who bind themselves forever test whether heart finds heart! Delusion is brief, regret is long.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Song of the Bell.
11. **Joy, beautiful spark of the gods, daughter of Elysium** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Ode to Joy, the words of Beethoven's Ninth.
12. **Man only plays when he is human in the fullest sense of the word, and he is only fully human when he plays.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — On the Aesthetic Education of Man, 15th letter.
13. **Life is not the highest of goods, but the greatest of evils is guilt.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Bride of Messina, final lines / chorus.
14. **What is the majority? The majority is nonsense; reason has always been with the few.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Demetrius / Prince Sapieha.
15. **That man can be helped.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The Robbers, V, 2 / Karl Moor.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.