Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, (Faust, Part I, "Studierzimmer")
(All theory, dear friend, is grey, but the golden tree
of actual life springs ever green.)
Das is der Weisheit letzter Schluss:
Nur der verdient sich Freiheit wie das Leben,
Der taglich sie eroben muss.
- Ibid., Part 2, "Grosser Vorhof des Palastes")
(This is wisdom's final thought:
Only he earns freedom, as well as life,
Who day by day must conquer them anew.)
Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass,
Wer nie de kummervollen Nächte
Auf seinem Bette weinend sass,
Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte.
- Goethe, (Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Bk.2, Ch. 1)
(Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours
Weeping and watching for the morrow
He knows ye not, ye heavenly powers.)
Wenn wir, sagtest Du, die Menschen nur nehmen, wie sie sind, so machen
wir sie schlecter; wenn wir sie behandeln, als wären sie sein sollten so bringen wir sie dahin, wohin sie zu bringen sind.
- Ibid, Bk, 8, Ch. 4
(Treat a man as he is, and that is what he remains. Treat a man as he can be, and that is what he becomes.)
Goethe is different and a wonderful fellow, the Ariosto at once, and almost the Voltaire of Germany.
- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) (in Anne of Geierstein)
(Today is the 263rd anniversary of the birth of iconic German poet, novelist, and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in Frankfurt am Main. Goethe studied law at Leipzig and Strasbourg but also began there his lifelong study of plants and animals. A major voice of German romanticism, he produced his first successes in the early Sturm-und-Drang ("storm and stress") period of his writing career, including the drama Götz von Berlichingen and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). In 1775, Goethe began his long association with the dukes of Saxe-Weimar and eventually spent most of his life at their court in Weimar, for ten years as chief minister of state. A visit to Italy inspired his writing of Egmont (1788) and Torquato Tasso (1789), but he is best remembered for his monumental verse drama, Faust, which appeared in two parts, the first in 1808, the second after his death. Later in life Goethe was greatly influenced by the poet Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) and Persian verse, and in his old age, he produced some of his most lyrical poems. He ended his life as a reclusive, but revered figure, whose influence on European literature - and music! - has been incalculable. In the first act of Torquato Tasso, he wrote,
"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt."
(Talent develops in quiet places, character
in the full current of human life.)** )
* N.B. Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) is best remembered for his popular epic poem, Orlando Furioso.
** This is a relatively free version by Thomas Carlyle, who translated many of Goethe's works into English. (The last phrase might be more literally rendered, "in the stream of the world.")
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
Taken from Ed's QOTD, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
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