Wilhelm von Humboldt

Philosopher, Academic

1767 – 1835

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Who was Wilhelm von Humboldt?

Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt was a Prussian philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the University of Berlin, which was named after him in 1949. He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice of education. In particular, he is widely recognized as having been the architect of the Prussian education system which was used as a model for education systems in countries such as the United States and Japan.

Humboldt was born in Potsdam, Margraviate of Brandenburg, and died in Tegel, Province of Brandenburg. His younger brother, Alexander von Humboldt, was equally famous, as a geographer and explorer.

Famous Quotes:

  • Man is more disposed to domination than freedom; and a structure of dominion not only gladdens the eye of the master who rears and protects it, but even its servants are uplifted by the thought that they are members of a whole, which rises high above the life and strength of single generations.
  • The sensual and spiritual are linked together by a mysterious bond, sensed by our emotions, though hidden from our eyes. To this double nature of the visible and invisible world -- to the profound longing for the latter, coupled with the feeling of the sweet necessity for the former, we owe all sound and logical systems of philosophy, truly based on the immutable principles of our nature, just as from the same source arise the most senseless enthusiasms.
  • The government is best which makes itself unnecessary.
  • True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united.
  • If we glance at the most important revolutions in history, we see at once that the greatest number of these originated in the periodical revolutions of the human mind.
  • If it were not somewhat fanciful to suppose that every human excellence is presented, as it were, in one kind of being, we might believe that the whole treasure of morality and order is enshrined in the female character.
  • How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.
  • Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
  • Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household.
  • Freedom is but the possibility of a various and indefinite activity; while government, or the exercise of dominion, is a single, yet real activity. The longing for freedom, therefore, is at first only too frequently suggested by the deep-felt consciousness of its absence.

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Born
Jun 22, 1767
Potsdam
Also known as
  • Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt
  • Wilhelm Freiherr von Humboldt
Siblings
Nationality
  • Germany
Profession
Employment
  • Humboldt University of Berlin
Lived in
  • Potsdam
Died
Apr 8, 1835
Berlin

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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