It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) was a German poet, playwright and historian, and with Goethe the central figure of Weimar Classicism. He trained as a military doctor and deserted the service in order to write. His Ode to Joy was later set to music in the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
About this theme: Love
The Greeks had several words for what we cover with one: eros for desire, philia for the affection between friends, storge for family attachment, agape for the kind that asks nothing back. Translate all of that into a single word and the distinctions vanish — yet the distinctions are what most quotes about love are actually about.
More by Friedrich Schiller
- Keep true to the dreams of your youth.
- Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.
- The voice of the majority is no proof of justice.
- He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
- Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
More on Love
- No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.— Charles Dickens
- A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.— Elbert Hubbard
- The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.— Helen Keller
- One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.— Sophocles
- Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.— Mother Teresa