Quotes from Friedrich Hölderlin

Man kann auch in die Höhe fallen, so wie in die Tiefe. (One can as well fall into height as into depth)

Denn sie, die uns das himmlische Feuer leihn, Die Götter schenken heiliges Leid uns auch, Drum bleibe dies. Ein Sohn der Erde Schein ich; zu lieben gemacht, zu leiden.

But friend, we come too late. It's true that the gods live, But up over our heads, up in a different world. They function endlessly up there, and seem to care little If we live or die, so much do they avoid us. A weak vessel cannot hold them forever; humans can Endure the fullness of the gods only at times. Therefore Life itself becomes a dream about them.

Living tones are we, we sound together in thy harmony.

versprecht ihr mir, Ihr Wälder meiner Jugend, wenn ich komme, die Ruhe noch einmal wieder?

Who the deepest has thought loves what is most alive.

El hombre es un dios cuando sueña y un mendigo cuando reflexiona

Wie unvermögend ist doch der gutwilligste Fleiß der Menschen gegen die Allmacht der ungeteilten Begeisterung!

It is beautiful to unfold our souls And our short lives

For too long has everything divine been utilized, And all the heavenly powers, the kindly ones, thrown away, Consumed for kicks by thankless, Cunning men, who, when the exalted One works in their fields, think they Know the daylight and the Thunderer, And their telescope might see them all and Count and name all the stars in heaven; But the Father covers our eyes with holy Night so we might remain. He loves no wildness! Our expanding power will never force heaven.

es sei nicht immer Tag und auch nicht Nacht.

I'm building a grave for my heart, that it may rest; I spin a cocoon around myself, because everywhere it's winter, in blissfull memories I wrap myself against the storm.

Das gibt dem Menschen seine ganze Jugend, daß er Fesseln zerreißt.

In gods and godhead only he can truly believe who himself is godlike.

Hälfte des Lebens Mit gelben Birnen hänget Und voll mit wilden Rosen Das Land in den See, Ihr holden Schwäne, Und trunken von Küssen Tunkt ihr das Haupt Ins heilignüchterne Wasser. Weh mir, wo nehm' ich, wenn Es Winter ist, die Blumen, und wo Den Sonnenschein, Und Schatten der Erde? Die Mauern stehn Sprachlos und kalt, im Winde Klirren die Fahnen.

O sacred light, walking there upon us, restlessly potent in its tremendous realm, disclosing its soul to me as well, in the rays that I drink, your luck be mine! From their deeds the sons of the sun nourish themselves; they live by victory; with own spirit they rouse themselves, and their force is their mirth.

Wo aber die Gefahr ist, wächst, Das Rettende auch. But where danger is, salvation also blooms.

O que sempre tem feito do Estado um inferno na terra tem sido precisamente procurar o homem fazer dele o seu paraíso.

Ich verspräche gerne diesem Buche die Liebe der Deutschen.

I am mortal, born to love and to suffer.

I was raised by the song Of the murmuring grove And loving I learned Among Flowers.

But where the danger is, also grows the saving power.

You have a head and a heart? Reveal only one of them, I say; If you reveal both at once, doubly they'll damn you, for both.

Isn't everything alive already in your blood?