Writers (English Version)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)
Famous for: The Sorrows of Young Werther, Faust, Der Erlkönig, Iphigenia in Tauris, poems
Over all the hill-tops
Is Rest,
In all the tree-tops
You can feel
Scarcely a breath:
The little birds quiet in the leaves.
Wait now, soon you
Too will have peace.
Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805)
Famous for: Ode to Joy, Don Carlos, William Tell, Mary Stuart, The Robbers, poems
Friedrich Schiller Documentary
To save all we must risk all.
Heinrich Heine (1797 – 1856)
Famous for: Germany. A Winter’s Tale, Book of Songs, Die Harzreise, poems
Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen (German)
Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729 – 1781)
Famous for: Nathan the Wise, Emilia Galotti, Miss Sara Sampson
Lyrik fĂĽr alle – Lessing (German)
The most deadly fruit is borne by the hatred which one grafts on an extinguished friendship
Heinrich von Kleist (1777 – 1801)
Famous for:Â The Broken Jug, Penthesilea, The Prince of Homburg, The Marquise of O
“Die Akte Kleist” (Trailer German)
Misconceptions are unavoidable now that we’ve eaten of the Tree of Knowledge. But Paradise is locked and bolted, and the cherubim stands behind us. We have to go on and make the journey round the world to see if it is perhaps open somewhere at the back.
Annette von Droste-HĂĽlshoff (1797 – 1848)
Famous for: Die Judenbuche, Poems
Oh night, you canopy of embroidered gold!
Oh moon, you lamp of silver!
You, who shroud the world around
And you, who lights us all.
Hermann Hesse (1877 – 1962)
Famous for: Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, Steppenwolf
Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
Theodor Fontane (1819 – 1898)
Famous for: Effi Briest, Irrungen Wirrungen, Frau Jenny Treibel, poems
Fontane “John Maynard” (Poem, German)
Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second — and best — in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night’s sleep and not being hurt by new shoes.
Heinrich Böll (1917 – 1985)
Famous for: The Clown, The Train was on Time, The Silent Angel
Heinrich Böll Documentary (German)
When I got the Nobel Prize I said to myself that it had made me neither smarter nor more stupid.
Ingeborg Bachmann (1926 – 1973)
Famous for: Poetry, Das DreiĂźigste Jahr, Malina
Wherever we turn in the storm of roses,
the night is lit up by thorns, and the thunder
of leaves, once so quiet within the bushes,
rumbling at our heels.
Erich Kästner (1899 – 1974)
Famous for: Emil and the Detectives, The Flying Classroom, Lottie and Lisa
“Nur wer erwachsen wird und ein Kind bleibt, ist ein Mensch.”
Christa Wolf (1929 – 2011)
Famous for: Cassandra, Divided Heaven, What Remains
Denn ich ohne BĂĽcher bin nicht ich.
GĂĽnter Grass (1927 – 2015)
Famous for: The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years
Even bad books are books and therefore sacred.
Michael Ende (1929 – 1995)
Famous for: The Never-ending Story, Momo, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver
You wish for something, you’ve wanted it for years, and you’re sure you want it, as long as you know you can’t have it. But if all at once it looks as though your wish might come true, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had never wished for any such thing. (The Never-ending Story)
Otfried Preussler (1923 – 2013)
Famous for: Krabat, The Little Ghost
Denn Dummheit und GlĂĽck ja mit vorliebe Hand in Hand gingen.
Cornelia Funke (1958 – )
Famous for: Inkheart, The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider
If I was a book, I would like to be a library book, so I would be taken home by all different sorts of kids.
Click here to read this post in German!
Can’t get enough of German writers? check this list for more popular writers and/or let us know who is your favorite and why! We are looking forward to your thoughts!
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