Art is the daughter of freedom.
The average estimate themselves by what they do, the above average by what they are.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that people of average ability evaluate themselves based on their actions, while those who are above average assess their worth based on their character and potential.
Friedrich Schiller's quote highlights a profound distinction between how individuals perceive their self-worth. Those who consider themselves average often gauge their value through their accomplishments and actions, focusing on tangible results. In contrast, those with higher aspirations and abilities evaluate themselves through their inherent qualities, values, and the potential they possess. This perspective offers a deeper understanding of self-worth, urging individuals to look beyond mere achievements and recognize the importance of character in self-assessment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
More from Friedrich Schiller
All quotes βThere is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.
While the womanly god demands our veneration, the godlike woman kindles our love; but while we allow ourselves to melt in the celestial loveliness, the celestial self-sufficiency holds us back in awe.
As noble Art has survived noble nature, so too she marches ahead of it, fashioning and awakening by her inspiration. Before Truth sends her triumphant light into the depths of the heart, imagination catches its rays, and the peaks of humanity will be glowing when humid night still lingers in the valleys.
Wise to resolve, patient to perform.
Similar quotes
We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.
I'm an expert in higher level math. You + God = Enough
The best swordsman in the world may be disarmed by a trick that's new to him.
Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom.
but it is also true, if this brings her any consolation, that if, before every action, we were to begin weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probably, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt.