Kingdom of Prussia

Friedrich Nietzsche

Philosophy

1844–1900

"I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more to be than a good dancer."

Immanuel Kant

Philosophy

Enlightenment

1724–1804

"Is it reasonable to assume a purposiveness in all the parts of nature and to deny it to the whole?"

Arthur Schopenhauer

Philosophy

Idealism

1788–1860

"Life is a business that does not cover the costs."

Georg Simmel

Philosophy

Neo-Kantianism

1858–1918

"The social game has a deeper double meaning—that it is played not only in a society as its outward bearer but that with its help people actually "play" "society.""

Carl von Clausewitz

Military

1780–1831

"...self-reliance is the best defence against the pressures of the moment."

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Philosophy

"Natural science served as - if we overlook the hasty identification of mind and matter which had its origin in natural science - as a shining and fruitful example to psychology."

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Art

Greek Revival architecture

1781–1841

"Indifference to the fine arts comes close to barbarism."

Alfred von Waldersee

Politics

1832–1904

"It is really a good thing that the English should be unmasked at last and that the world should see what miserable hypocrites they are."

Hermann Grassmann

Mathematics

1809–1877

"Mechanics, according to the principles of the theory of extension" An English translation of one Grassmann's papers on the applications of exterior algebra"

Otto Lilienthal

Journalism

1848–1896

"The sailing flight of birds is the only form of flight which is carried on for some length of time without the expenditure of power."

Leonhard Euler

Mathematics

1707–1783

"Madam, I have come from a country where people are hanged if they talk."

Julius Bahnsen

Philosophy

1830–1881

"The longer I live, the more I feel that the simplest formula for the constancy of my fate is: on a lost watch."

Johann Georg Hamann

Philosophy

Sturm und Drang

1730–1788

"Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Johann Georg Hamann"

David Hilbert

Mathematics

1862–1943

"Every kind of science, if it has only reached a certain degree of maturity, automatically becomes a part of mathematics."

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Philosophy

German new humanism

1767–1835

"The legislator should keep two things constantly before his eyes:—1. The pure theory developed to its minutest details; 2. The particular condition of actual things which he designs to reform."

Caspar David Friedrich

Art

German Romanticism

1774–1840

"..the great white blanket of snow .. ..the essence of the utmost purity, beneath which nature prepares herself for a new life.."

Wilhelm Röntgen

Science

1845–1923

"Annotated bibliography for Wilhelm Rontgen from the Alsos Digital Library"

Paul Scheerbart

Literature

1863–1915

"Mal ist mir alles astral | Und mal so ganz egal."

Gustav Kirchhoff

Mathematics

1824–1887

"Look here, I have succeeded at last in fetching some gold from the sun."

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger

Military

naturism

1848–1916

"The moment Russia mobilizes, Germany also will mobilize, and will unquestionably mobilize her whole army."

Leopold von Ranke

Literature

1795–1886

"The ultimate aim of historical writing is the bringing before us the whole truth."

Johann Gottfried Herder

Philosophy

Age of Enlightenment

1744–1803

"Profile in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy"

Paul de Lagarde

Literature

1827–1891

"Collection of Lagard's writings at Archive.org"

"Oxford is on the whole more attractive than Cambridge to the ordinary visitor; and the traveller is therefore recommended to visit Cambridge first, or to omit it altogether if he cannot visit both."

Ludwig Tieck

Literature

Romanticism

1773–1853

"Ludwig Tieck's Works at German Wikisource"

Christian Wolff

Mathematics

rationalism

1679–1754

"Form is a theatrical event of a certain length, and the length itself may be unpredictable."

August Macke

Art

Expressionism

1887–1914

"It was the desire for living, vital expression which built Gothic cathedrals, which created Mozart sonatas. I believe it is going to stay that way for long time to come."

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Religion

Enlightenment

1768–1834

"Miracle is simply the religious name for event. Every event, even the most natural and usual, becomes a miracle, as soon as the religious view of it can be the dominant. To me all is miracle."

Paul Rée

Philosophy

positivism

1849–1901

"The feeling of justice thus arises out of two errors, namely, because the punishments inflicted by authorities and educators appear as acts of retribution, and because people believe in the freedom of the will."

Leopold Kronecker

Mathematics

1823–1891

"God made the integers, all the rest is the work of man."

E. T. A. Hoffmann

Literature

Romanticism

1776–1822

"The magic of music is so strong, getting stronger, it should break any shackle of another art."

Otto von Bismarck

Politics

"In the development of our tariff I am determined to oppose any modification in the direction of Free Trade, and to use my influence in favour of greater protection and of a higher revenue from frontier duties."