32 Contemplative Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Quotes

Nothing great in the World has been accomplished without passion.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 24

An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 4, Page 226

Philosophy is by its nature something esoteric, neither made for the mob nor capable of being prepared for the mob.Hegel: A Reinterpretation by Walter Kaufmann (Dobleday & Co., 1966), Page 56

Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 6

The very fact that something is determined as a limitation implies that the limitation is already transcended.Science of Logic (1816), (George Allen & Unwin, ed. 1969), Volume I, Page 134

The richer in determinateness and, therefore, in relationships thoughts become, the more confused and also the more arbitrary and meaningless becomes their representation in such forms as numbers.Science of Logic (1816), (George Allen & Unwin, ed. 1969), Volume I, Page 215

To him who looks upon the world rationally, the world in its turn presents a rational aspect. The relation is mutual.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 11

Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 58. Paragraph 93, Page 245

Personality is that which struggles to lift itself above this restriction and to give itself reality, or in other words to claim that external world as its own.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Part I, Paragraph 39, Page 38

To make abstractions hold good in actuality means to destroy actuality.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., ed. 1896), Volume III, Part III, Section III, Page 425

Life is essentially the concept which realises itself only through self-division and reunification.Philosophy of Nature (1817)

Life has a value only when it has something valuable as its object.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 100

I possess my life and my body, like other things, only in so far as my will is in them.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Part I, Paragraph 47, Page 43

To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great or rational whether in life or in science.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Part III, Paragraph 318, Page 205

People who are too fastidious towards the finite, never reach actuality, but lie idle in abstractions, till their light gradually dies away.Science of Logic (1816), (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ed. 1874), Chapter VII. The Doctrine of Being, Page 148

Only what is living feels a lack.Philosophy of Nature (1817), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1970), Page 385

Animals are in possession of themselves; their soul is in possession of their body. But they have no right to their life, because they do not will it.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 28. Paragraph 47, Page 237

What experience and history teach is this, – that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 7

The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 19

History of the world which is the world’s court of judgement.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Part III, Paragraph 340, Page 217

The History of the World is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony, periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 28

Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 16. Paragraph 21, Page 231

Freedom is the truth of necessity.Science of Logic (1816), (George Allen & Unwin, ed. 1969), Volume II, Page 580

When liberty is mentioned, we must always be careful to observe whether it is not really the assertion of private interests which is thereby designated.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Part IV, Section III, Chapter II, Page 448

Once the state has been founded, there can no longer be any heroes. They come on the scene only in uncivilized conditions.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 58. Paragraph 93, Page 245

The Few assume to be the deputies, but they are often only the despoilers of the Many.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Part IV, Section III, Chapter III, Page 468

It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in providence, than to see their real import or value.Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837), (Henry G. Bohn, ed. 1857), Introduction, Page 37

Poverty in itself does not make men into a rabble; a rabble is created only when there is joined to poverty a disposition of mind, an inner indignation against the rich, against society, against the government.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 149. Paragraph 244, Page 277

In the case of various kinds of knowledge, we find that what in former days occupied the energies of men of mature mental ability sinks to the level of information, exercises, and even pastimes for children; and in this educational progress we can see the history of the world’s culture delineated in faint outline.The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), (George Allen & Unwin, ed. 1961), Page 90

We do not need to be shoemakers to know if our shoes fit, and just as little have we any need to be professionals to acquire knowledge of matters of universal interest.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 135. Paragraph 215, Page 273

Education is the art of making men ethical.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 97. Paragraph 151, Page 261

The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), (Oxford University Press, ed. 1942), Additions, No. 160. Paragraph 268, Page 282