Art is the subjective, preferential treatment of certain elements of reality; it selects and resets, distributes light and shade, omits and underline…

- Egon Friedell

God does not rule the world outwardly by gravitation and chemical affinity, but inwardly in the heart of man: as is your soul, so will the destiny be…

- Egon Friedell

Clothe an idea in words and it loses its freedom of movement.

- Egon Friedell

All knowing that goes beyond the immediate experience of the moment is a matter of faith.

- Egon Friedell

The highest, the only reality, is ever at hand, but for the most part invisible. Genius makes it visible.

- Egon Friedell

The artist's view of the world and mankind is that which seeks as far as possible to lose itself in its object, illuminating it not from the outside …

- Egon Friedell

Artists of all sorts remain youthful for so long, and in many cases attain a grand old age. The explanation is that they live in an almost permanent …

- Egon Friedell

Electricity and magnetism are those forces of nature by which people who know nothing about electricity and magnetism can explain everything.

- Egon Friedell

We can never see the world other than incompletely: deliberately to see it as incomplete is to create an artistic aspect.

- Egon Friedell