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
Similar quotes
I hate American simplicity. I glory in the piling up of complications of every sort. If I could pronounce the name James in any different or more elaborate way I should be in favor of doing it.
Henry JamesRead
Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.
Jawaharlal NehruRead
When death comes, it's just like winter. We don't say, "There ought not to be winter." That the winter season, when the leaves fall and the snow comes, is some kind of defeat, something which we should hold out against. No. Winter is part of the natural course of events. No winter, no summer. No cold, no heat.
Alan WattsRead
True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.
Seneca The YoungerRead
That doctrine of peace at any price has done more mischief than any I can well recall that have been afloat in this country. It has occasioned more wars than any of the most ruthless conquerors. It has disturbed and nearly destroyed that political equilibrium so necessary to the liberties and the welfare of the world.
Benjamin DisraeliRead
If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how then with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books should be forbid.
Herman MelvilleRead