Friedrich Max Müller Quotes

61. If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.

If an answer must be given as to the place where our Aryan ancestors dwelt before their separation, . . . I should still say, as I said forty years ago, 'Somewhere in Asia,' and no more.

उसकी परिधि में न केवल पूजा और प्रार्थना आती थी, बल्कि हम जिसे दर्शन, नैतिकता, कानून और सरकार कहते हैं, वह सब धर्म में आता था। उनका सारा जीवन उनके लिए धर्म था

प्रकृति में दक्षिण और उत्तर होते हैं, क्या वैसे ही मानव स्वभाव में दो गोलार्द्ध नहीं होते — एक ओर तो सक्रिय युद्धप्रिय, और राजनीतिक और दूसरी ओर पैसिव, ध्यानी और दार्शनिक। और इस समस्या के हल के लिए कोई भी साहित्य उतनी सामग्री प्रदान नहीं करता जितना वेद, जो ऋचाओं से शुरू होते हैं और उपनिषदों में खत्म होते हैं।

On religions: He who knows one, knows none.

भारत के पड़ोस के कबीले जो ईरानी भाषा बोलते थे, फारसी के समान स को ह बोलते थे। इस प्रकार सिन्धु हिन्दु बन गया और जब प्राचीनकाल में ह लुप्त हो गया तो हिन्धु इन्दु बन गया। जब ग्रीक लोगों ने फारसी लोगों से पहली बार इंडिया के बारे में सुना तो वे नदी को इन्डोस और लोगों को इन्डोई कहने लगे।

Muller may have well felt the need to stress that "an ethnologist who speaks of an Aryan race, Aryan eyes and hair, and Aryan blood is as great a sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolicocephalic dictionary or a brachycephalic grammar"; after all, it was he who had been a principal cause in such misconceptions through his earlier remarks on the common blood that the "English soldier" shared with the "dark Bengali".

We shall then learn that the history of mankind is the best philosophy, and that not only in Christianity and Judaism, but that in all religions of the world, God has at divers times spoken through the prophets in divers manners, and still speaks.

It is curious to see how the descendants of the same race, to which the first conquerors and masters of India belonged, return . . . to accomplish the glorious work of civilization, which had been left unfinished by their Arian bretheren.

As for more than twenty years my principal work has been devoted to the ancient literature of India, I cannot but feel a deep and real sympathy for all that concerns the higher interests of the people of that country. Though I have never been in India, I have many friends there, both among the civilians and among the natives, and I believe I am not mistaken in supposing that the publication in England of the ancient sacred writings of the Brahmans, which had never been published in India, and other contributions from different European scholars towards a better knowledge of the ancient literature and religion of India, have not been without some effect on the intellectual and religious movement that is going on among the more thoughtful members of Indian society. I have sometimes regretted that I am not an Englishman, and able to help more actively in the great work of educating and improving the natives. But I do rejoice that this great task of governing and benefiting India should have fallen to one who knows the greatness of that task and all its opportunities and responsibilities, who thinks not only of its political and financial bearings, but has a heart to feel for the moral welfare of those millions of human beings that are, more or less directly, committed to his charge. India has been conquered once, but India must be conquered again, and that second conquest should be a conquest by education. Much has been done for education of late, but if the funds were tripled and quadrupled, that would hardly be enough. The results of the educational work carried on during the last twenty years are palpable everywhere. They are good and bad, as was to be expected. It is easy to find fault with what is called Young Bengal, the product of English ideas grafted on the native mind. But Young Bengal, with all its faults, is full of promise. Its bad features are apparent everywhere, its good qualities are naturally hidden from the eyes of careless observers. . . . India can never be anglicized, but it can be reinvigorated. By encouraging a study of their own ancient literature, as part of their education, a national feeling of pride and self-respect will be reawakened among those who influence the large masses of the people. A new national literature may spring up, impregnated with Western ideas, yet retaining its native spirit and character. The two things hang together. In order to raise the character of the vernaculars, a study of the ancient classical language is absolutely necessary: for from it these modern dialects have branched off, and from it alone can they draw their vital strength and beauty. A new national literature will bring with it a new national life and new moral vigour. As to religion, that will take care of itself. The missionaries have done far more than they themselves seem to be aware of, nay, much of the work which is theirs they would probably disclaim. The Christianity of our nineteenth century will hardly be the Christianity of India. But the ancient religion of India is doomed — and if Christianity does not step in, whose fault will it be?

भाषा-वैज्ञानिक ग्रिम ही था, जिसने प्राचीन स्लाव-वर्गीय भाषा के पेरुन तथा पोलिश भाषा के पिओरन एवं बोहेमियन भाषा के पेराउन शब्दों की वैदिक ‘पर्जन्य’ के साथ पहचान कर दिखाई थी।

On religions and viewpoints: He who knows one, knows none.

Many things are still unintelligible to us, and the hieroglyphic language of antiquity records but half of the mind's unconscious intentions. Yet more and more the image of man, in whatever clime we meet him, rises before us, noble and pure from the very beginning; even his errors we learn to understand, even his dreams we begin to interpret. As far as we can trace back the footsteps of man, even on the lowest strata of history, we see the divine gift of a sound and sober intellect belonging to him from the very first, and the idea of a humanity emerging slowly from the depths of an animal brutality can never be maintained again.

Fishes never fly, and cats never catch frogs. These are the difficulties into which we are led ; and they arise simply and solely from our using words for their sound rather than for their meaning. We begin by playing with words, but in the end the words will play with us.

There will be and can be no rest till we admit, what cannot be denied, that there is in man a third faculty, which I call simply the faculty of apprehending the Infinite, not only in religion, but in all things; a power independent of sense and reason, a power in a certain sense contradicted by sense and reason; but yet, I suppose, a very real power, if we see how it has held its own from the beginning of the world — how neither sense nor reason has been able to overcome it, while it alone is able to overcome both reason and sense.