There is no self-knowledge but an historical one. No one knows what he himself is who does not know his fellow men, especially the most prominent one of the community, the master's master, the genius of the age.
Interpretation
Self-knowledge is intertwined with understanding others, particularly those who are influential in society.
In this quote, Schlegel suggests that true self-awareness cannot exist in a vacuum. To understand oneself, one must also comprehend the context of one's relationships with others, especially those who are regarded as great or important figures in society. Our identities are shaped not only by our personal experiences but also by our social environment and the significant individuals within it.
In practice
This quote could be used in a psychology class to emphasize the importance of social context in understanding oneself.
Prudishness is pretense of innocence without innocence. Women have to remain prudish as long as men are sentimental, dense, and evil enough to demand of them eternal innocence and lack of education. For innocence is the only thing which can ennoble lack of education.
A classical work doesn't ever have to be understood entirely. But those who are educated and who are still educating themselves must desire to learn more and more from it.
If you want to see mankind fully, look at a family. Within the family minds become organically one, and for this reason the family is total poetry.
He who does not become familiar with nature through love will never know her.
Religion can emerge in all forms of feeling: here wild anger, there the sweetest pain; here consuming hatred, there the childlike smile of serene humility.
A priest is he who lives solely in the realm of the invisible, for whom all that is visible has only the truth of an allegory.
Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualification.
Theories, books and ideas created within ivory towers had real-world consequences.
We have bodies. We have personalities. We have histories, stories and experiences. But we are not those things - we are Spirit.
Speak the truth do not become angered and give when asked, even be it a little. By these three conditions one goes to the presence of the gods.
When I die, I shall soar with angels, and when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine.
The best pleasures of this world are not quite true.
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