46 Quotes by Johann Gottlieb Fichte

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

The living and efficaciously acting moral order is itself God. We require no other God, nor can we grasp any other.

Act! act!—it is to that end we are here. Should we fret ourselves that others are not so perfect as we are, when we ourselves are only somewhat less imperfect than they? Is not this our greatest perfection,—the vocation which has been given to us,—that we must labour for the perfecting of others? Let us rejoice in the prospect of that widely extended field which we are called to cultivate! Let us rejoice that power is given to us, and that our task is infinite!

He who has no means of subsistence, has no duty to acknowledge or respect other people's property, considering that the principles of the social convenant have been violated to his prejudice.

It is his incurable illness to regard the accidental as necessary.

Nur mit Johannes kann der Philosoph zusammenkommen, denn dieser allein hat Achtung für die Vernunft, und beruft sich auf den Beweis, den der Philosoph allein gelten lässt: den inneren.

Mit einem Worte: durch die Wissenschaftslehre kommt der Geist des Menschen zu sich selbst, und ruht von nun an auf sich selbst, ohne fremde Hülfe, und wird seiner selbst durchaus mächtig, wie der Tänzer seiner Füße, oder der Fechter seiner Hände.

He who is firm in will molds the world to himself

By philosophy the mind of man comes to itself, and from henceforth rests on itself without foreign aid, and is completely master of itself, as the dancer of his feet, or the boxer of his hands.