When the theater gates open, a mob pours inside, and it is the poet's task to turn it into an audience.
Franz Grillparzer

No one will stop to help you when you are in need, but everyone forces opinions upon you that you do not require.
Franz Grillparzer

If we notice a few errors in the work of a proven master, we may and even will often be correct; if we believe, however, that he is completely and utterly mistaken, we are in danger of missing his entire concept.
Franz Grillparzer

Science and art, or by the same token, poetry and prose differ from one another like a journey and an excursion. The purpose of the journey is its goal, the purpose of an excursion is the process.
Franz Grillparzer

The main reason why men and women make different aesthetic judgments is the fact that the latter, generally incapable of abstraction, only admire what meets their complete approval.
Franz Grillparzer

You even called me stupid in your verse, and I'm almost agreeing, for where stupidity is involved, you are quite an expert, friend.
Franz Grillparzer

If someone were to think that trees are made to support the sky, they would all seem too short.
Franz Grillparzer

Without a notion of the transcendental, human beings would, indeed, be animals; however, only fools can be convinced of it, and only degenerates need such a conviction.
Franz Grillparzer