Gotthold ephraim lessing quotes

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

German Enlightenment writer (1729–1781)

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Portrait of Lessing by Anna Rosina Lisiewska during his time as dramaturg of Abel Seyler's Hamburg National Theatre (1767/1768)

Born(1729-01-22)22 January 1729
Kamenz, Upper Lusatia, Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Died15 February 1781(1781-02-15) (aged 52)
Braunschweig, Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empire
OccupationWriter, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, art critic, and dramaturg
Alma materLeipzig University
University of Wittenberg
Notable worksMiss Sara Sampson, Emilia Galotti, Minna von Barnhelm, Nathan the Wise, Laocoön, Hamburgische Dramaturgie
SpouseEva König

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (German:[ˈɡɔthɔltˈʔeːfʁa.ɪmˈlɛsɪŋ]; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature. He is widely considered by theatre historia

JewishEncyclopedia.com

German poet and critic; born Jan. 22, 1729, at Kamenz, Upper Lusatia; died Feb. 15, 1781, at Brunswick.

Toleration and a striving after freedom of thought led him to condemn all positive religions in so far as they laid claim to absolute authority, and to recognize them merely as stages of historical development. A natural consequence of this principle was his sympathetic attitude toward the Jews; for he deemed it inconsistent with the dictates of religious liberty to exclude for religious reasons a whole race from the blessings of European culture.

In his comedy "Die Juden," one of his earliest dramatic works, he stigmatized the dislike of the Gentiles for the followers of the Jewish religion as a stupid prejudice. He went herein further than any other apostle of toleration before or after him. The full development and final expression of his views on this problem, however, are found in his drama and last masterpiece, "Nathan der Weise" (1779), Lessing thus beginning and ending his dramatic career as an advocate of the emancipation of the Jews.

The fi

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781).

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature. He is widely considered by theatre historians to be the first dramaturg.

Lessing was born in Kamenz, a small town in Saxony, to Johann Gottfried Lessing and Justine Salome Feller. His father was a Lutheran minister and wrote on theology. Young Lessing studied at the Latin School in Kamenz from 1737 to 1741. With a father who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, Lessing next attended the Fürstenschule St. Afra monastery in Meissen. After completing at St. Afra’s, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig where he pursued a degree in theology, medicine, philosophy, and philology (1746–1748).

It was here that his relationship with Karoline Neuber, a famous German actress, began. He translated several French plays for her, and his interest in theatre grew. During this ti

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