Morike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Morike (d. 1817), a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer. He attended the Latin school at Ludwigsburg, and the seminary at Urach (1818) where he made the acquaintance of Wilhelm Hartlaub and Wilhelm Waiblinger. He then studied theology at the Seminary of Tubingen where he met Ludwig Bauer, David Friedrich Strauss and F. T. Vischer