Art is the daughter of freedom.
Friedrich SchillerRead
Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Utility is prioritized above all else in modern society, demanding allegiance from both individuals and talents.
Friedrich Schiller's quote highlights the pervasive influence of utility in contemporary life, suggesting that society's values prioritize usefulness over other virtues. In this context, individuals are compelled to align their abilities and efforts with what is deemed practically beneficial, rendering moral and artistic pursuits secondary to the demands of functionality and service.
Themes
UtilitySocietyServiceTalentAllegiance
In practice
Example use cases
During a keynote speech on modern entrepreneurship, one could quote Schiller to emphasize the importance of aligning business practices with practical outcomes.
More from Friedrich Schiller
All quotes βThere is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
Friedrich SchillerRead
Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.
Friedrich SchillerRead
While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.
Friedrich SchillerRead
As noble Art has survived noble nature, so too she marches ahead of it, fashioning and awakening by her inspiration. Before Truth sends her triumphant light into the depths of the heart, imagination catches its rays, and the peaks of humanity will be glowing when humid night still lingers in the valleys.
Friedrich SchillerRead
Wise to resolve, patient to perform.
Friedrich SchillerRead
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We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
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Everything which relates to God is infinite. We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high. Our highest services are indeed but finite, imperfect. But as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love.
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This is the curse of our age, even the strangest aberrations are no cure for boredom.
StendhalRead
In the old days, people used to risk their lives in India or in the Americas in order to bring back products which now seem to us to have been of comically little worth.
Levi StraussRead