Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Biographical details

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), a central figure of the German Enlightenment, was a dramatist, philosopher, and art critic whose works transformed literary and theatrical theory. His writings, including Laocoon and Hamburg Dramaturgy, examined the distinctions between poetry and visual art, while plays such as Nathan the Wise and Minna von Barnhelm promoted religious tolerance and personal liberty.

A trailblazer in dramaturgy, Lessing’s focus on rational thought, creative expression, and ethical exploration had a lasting impact on German literature, connecting Enlightenment principles with the development of bourgeois drama.

Quotes by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ Be thou my patriarch; for ’tis the plain Christian,
Whom in the patriarch I have to consult,
And not the patriarch in the Christian.
FRIAR.
Oh,
I beg no further—you must quite mistake me;
He that knows much hath learnt much care, and I
Devoted me to only one. ’Tis well,
Most luckily here comes the very man,
Wait here, stand still—he has perceived you, knight.
TEMPLAR.
I’d rather shun him, he is not my man.
A thick red smiling prelate—and as stately—
FRIAR.
But you should see him on a gala-day;
He only comes from visiting the sick.
TEMPLAR.
Great Saladin must then be put to shame. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ SARA. I will do so, Waitwell! What regrets, what pain shall I feel!
WAITWELL. Pain, Miss! but pleasant pain.
SARA. Be silent! (begins reading to herself) .
WAITWELL (aside) . Oh! If he could see her himself!
SARA (after reading a few moments) . Ah, Waitwell, what a father! He calls my flight "an absence." How much more culpable it becomes through this gentle word! (continues reading and interrupts herself again) . Listen! he flatters himself I shall love him still. He flatters himself! He begs me--he begs me? A father begs his daughter? his culpable daughter? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna Von Barnhelm

“ You call me Tellheim; the name is correct. But suppose I am not that Tellheim whom you knew at home; the prosperous man, full of just pretensions, with a thirst for glory; the master of all his faculties, both of body and mind; before whom the lists of honour and prosperity stood open; who, if he was not then worthy of your heart and your hand, dared to hope that he might daily become more nearly so. This Tellheim I am now, as little as I am my own father. They both have been. Now I am Tellheim the discharged, the suspected, the cripple, the beggar. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Laocoon (1873)

“ Venus delivering to her son the armor of the gods is a subject equally suitable to artist and poet. For here she can be endowed with all the grace and beauty befitting the goddess of love. Such treatment will be of advantage as helping us the more easily to recognize her. But when Venus, intent on revenging herself on her contemners, the men of Lemnos, wild, in colossal shape, with cheeks inflamed and dishevelled hair, seizes the torch, and, wrapping a black robe about her, flies downward on the storm-cloud,—that is no moment for the painter, because he has no means of making us recognize her. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ NATHAN.
Illusions though.
DAYA.
Yes: and the one, her bosom
Clings to most fondly, is, that the brave templar
Was but a transient inmate of the earth,
A guardian angel, such as from her childhood
She loved to fancy kindly hovering round her,
Who from his veiling cloud amid the fire
Stepped forth in her preserver’s form. You smile—
Who knows? At least beware of banishing
So pleasing an illusion—if deceitful
Christian, Jew, Mussulman, agree to own it,
And ’tis—at least to her—a dear illusion.
NATHAN.
Also to me. Go, my good Daya, go,
See what she’s after. Can’t I speak with her? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ SALADIN. This is too much--
For one day 'tis too much! Came he not with you?
TEMPLAR. Who?
SALADIN. Who? Nathan.
TEMPLAR. No; I came alone.
SALADIN. Oh, what a deed was thine! what happiness
That such a deed should serve so good a man!
TEMPLAR. 'Twas nothing.
SALADIN. Why so cold, O valiant youth!
When God makes man His minister of good,
He need not be so cold, nor modestly
Wish to appear so cold.
TEMPLAR. But in the world
All things have many sides, and who is he
Can comprehend how they may fit each other?
SALADIN. Cling ever to what's noble, and praise God!
He knows how all things fit. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna Von Barnhelm

“ The service of the great is dangerous, and does not repay the trouble, the restraint, the humiliation which it costs. Minna is not amongst those vain people who love nothing in their husbands beyond their titles and positions. She will love me for myself; and for her sake I will forget the whole world. I became a soldier from party feeling—I do not myself know on what political principles—and from the whim that it is good for every honourable man to try the profession of arms for a time, to make himself familiar with danger, and to learn coolness and determination. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ MARINELLI. Mere admiration! Who does not know, Countess, that you are a philosopher?
ORSINA. Am I not? True; I am a philosopher. But have I now shown it; ah, shame! If I have shown it, and have often done so, it were no wonder if the Prince despised me. How can man love a creature which, in spite of him, will think? A woman who thinks is as silly as a man who uses paint. She ought to laugh--do nothing but laugh, that the mighty lords of the creation may be kept in good humour--What makes me laugh now, Marinelli? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ How do you like my Recha?
TEMPLAR.
Words cannot tell—
Gaze on her once again—I never will—
Never—no never: unless thou wilt promise
That I for ever, ever, may behold her.
NATHAN.
How should I take this?
TEMPLAR (falling suddenly upon his neck) .
Nathan—O my father!
NATHAN.
Young man!
TEMPLAR (quitting him as suddenly) .
Not son?—I pray thee, Nathan—ha!
NATHAN.
Thou dear young man!
TEMPLAR.
Not son?—I pray thee, Nathan,
Conjure thee by the strongest bonds of nature,
Prefer not those of later date, the weaker.—
Be it enough to thee to be a man!
Push me not from thee! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ I live again, and the prospect of her return seems to carry me as far back to my youth as her flight had brought me nearer to my grave. She loves me still? What more do I wish! Go back to her soon, Waitwell? I am impatient for the moment when I shall fold her again in these arms, which I had stretched out so longingly to death! How welcome would it have been to me in the moments of my grief! And how terrible will it be to me in my new happiness! An old man, no doubt, is to be blamed for drawing the bonds so tight again which still unite him to the world. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Laocoon (1873)

“ No greater insult could be paid to art. Suppose sculpture could imitate different textures as well as painting, would Laocoon necessarily have been draped? Should we lose nothing by drapery? Has a garment, the work of slavish hands, as much beauty as an organized body, the work of eternal wisdom? Does the imitation of the one require the same skill, involve the same merit, bring the same honor as the imitation of the other? Do our eyes require but to be deceived, and is it a matter of indifference to them with what they are deceived? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ Thins thou’lt be quit at once, without the tease
Of being sliced to death. Come wilt thou with me?
I’ll find thee with a staff.
NATHAN.
I should have thought,
Come what come may, that thy resource remained:
But I’ll consider of it. Stay.
HAFI.
Consider—
No; such things must not be considered.
NATHAN.
Stay:
Till I have seen the sultan—till you’ve had—
HAFI.
He, who considers, looks about for motives
To forbear daring. He, who can’t resolve
In storm and sunshine to himself to live,
Must live the slave of others all his life.
But as you please; farewell! ’tis you who choose. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna Von Barnhelm

“ It is cruel of you, Tellheim, to paint such happiness to me, when I am forced to renounce it. My loss!!!!! MAJ. T. Your loss! Why name your loss? All that Minna could lose is not Minna. You are still the sweetest, dearest, loveliest, best creature under the sun; all goodness and generosity, innocence and bliss! Now and then a little petulant; at times somewhat wilful—so much the better! So much the better! Minna would otherwise be an angel, whom I should honour with trepidation, but not dare to love. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ ODOARDO. Sorrows and anger? Madam--but I forget--go on.
ORSINA. Should she even be your only daughter--your only child--but it matters not. An unfortunate child is ever an only one.
ODOARDO. Unfortunate?--Madam! But why do I attend to her? And yet, by Heaven, no lunatic speaks thus.
ORSINA. Lunatic? That, then, was the secret which he told you of me. Well, well. It is perhaps not one of his greatest falsehoods. I feel that I am something like one; and believe me, sir, they who, under certain circumstances, do not lose their intellect, have none to lose. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ To do, it is my part to hear of thee,
And not to take for granted. But, O Sultan,
To lay loud protestations at thy feet
Of gratitude for a life spared, agrees
Not with my station or my character.
At all times, ’tis once more, prince, at thy service.
SALADIN.
Only forbear to use it against me.
Not that I grudge my enemy one pair more
Of hands—but such a heart, it goes against me
To yield him. I have been deceived with thee,
Thou brave young man, in nothing. Yes, thou art
In soul and body Assad. I could ask thee,
Where then hast thou been lurking all this time? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ I feel that I grow calm--I am calm! Thou who standest there, Philotas (surveying himself) --Ha! It must be a glorious, a grand sight; a youth stretched on the ground, the sword in his breast! The sword? Gods! O unhappy wretch that I am. And now only do I become aware of it! I have no sword; I have not anything! It became the booty of the warrior who made me prisoner. Perhaps he would have left it me, but the hilt was of gold. Accursed gold! art thou then always the ruin of virtue?
No sword? I no sword? Gods, merciful gods, grant me this one thing! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ TEMPLAR.
May I ask,
Nathan, who ’twas now left you?
NATHAN.
Did you know him?
TEMPLAR.
Was’t that good-hearted creature the lay-brother,
Whom the hoar patriarch has a knack of using
To feel his way out?
NATHAN.
That may be. In fact
He’s at the patriarch’s.
TEMPLAR.
’Tis no awkward hit
To make simplicity the harbinger
Of craft.
NATHAN.
If the simplicity of dunces,
But if of honest piety?
TEMPLAR.
This last
No patriarch can believe in.
NATHAN.
I’ll be bound for’t
This last belongs to him who quitted me.
He’ll not assist his patriarch to accomplish
A vile or cruel purpose. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ PARMENIO. All, prince!--Except the young ones.
PHILOTAS. Excellent! Parmenio, if I were so sensitive as you----
PARMENIO. And yet he only to whom experience has given twofold sight can command my blind obedience.
PHILOTAS. Then I shall soon have to ask your pardon. Well, I ask your pardon, Parmenio! Do not grumble, old man! Be kind again, old father! You are indeed wiser than I am. But not the wisest only have the best ideas. Good ideas are gifts of fortune, and good fortune, as you well know, often gives to the youth rather than to the old man. For Fortune is blind. Blind, Parmenio! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ NATHAN.
Let me manage.—
And is it not enough then for my Recha
To owe her preservation to a man,
Whom no small miracle preserved himself.
For whoe’er heard before that Saladin
Let go a templar; that a templar wished it,
Hoped it, or for his ransom offered more
Than taunts, his leathern sword-belt, or his dagger?
RECHA.
That makes for me; these are so many reasons
He was no real knight, but only seemed it.
If in Jerusalem no captive templar,
Appears alive, or freely wanders round,
How could I find one, in the night, to save me?
NATHAN.
Ingenious! dextrous! Daya, come in aid. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ Help! help for the prince! Prince, what raving anguish----
PHILOTAS. Forgive me, king! I have dealt you a more deadly blow than myself! I die, and soon will peaceful lands enjoy the fruit of my death. Your son, king, is a prisoner, and the son of my father is free!
ARIDÄUS. What do I hear?
STRATO. Then it was your purpose, prince? But as our prisoner, you had no right over yourself!
PHILOTAS. Do not say that, Strato! Should a man be able to fetter another's liberty to die, the liberty which the gods have left in all vicissitudes of life?
STRATO. O king! Terror has paralyzed him! King! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ SITTAH.
Then difficulties cease. A snare concerns
The avaricious, cautious, fearful Jew;
And not the good wise man: for he is ours
Without a snare. Then the delight of hearing
How such a man speaks out; with what stern strength
He tears the net, or with what prudent foresight
He one by one undoes the tangled meshes;
That will be all to boot—
SALADIN.
That I shall joy in.
SITTAH.
What then should trouble thee? For if he be
One of the many only, a mere Jew,
You will not blush to such a one to seem
A man, as he thinks all mankind to be. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ And so, Conti, you really consider Emilia Galotti amongst the first beauties of our city.
CONTI. Amongst them? Amongst the first? The first of our city? You jest, Prince, or your eyesight must have been all this time as insensible as your hearing.
PRINCE. Dear Conti (again fixing his eyes on the picture) , how can we uninitiated trust our eyes? In fact, none but an artist can judge of beauty.
CONTI. And must the feeling of every person wait for the decision of a painter? To a cloister with him who would learn from us what is beautiful! But this much I must own to you, as a painter, Prince. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ MARWOOD. No, Miss Sampson, if you mean to tremble, let us speak of something else----
SARA. Cruel woman!
MARWOOD. I am sorry to be misunderstood. I at least, if I place myself in imagination in Miss Sampson's position, would regard as a favour any more exact information which one might give me about the man with whose fate I was about to unite my own for ever.
SARA. What do you wish, Madam? Do I not know my Mellefont already? Believe me I know him, as I do my own soul. I know that he loves me----
MARWOOD. And others----
SARA. Has loved others. That I know also. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ And have I found in thee one more, to whom
It is enough to be a man?
TEMPLAR.
That hast thou.
Nathan, by God, thou hast. Thy hand. I blush
To have mistaken thee a single instant.
NATHAN.
And I am proud of it. Only common souls
We seldom err in.
TEMPLAR.
And uncommon ones
Seldom forget. Yes, Nathan, yes we must,
We will be friends.
NATHAN.
We are so. And my Recha—
She will rejoice. How sweet the wider prospect
That dawns upon me! Do but know her—once.
TEMPLAR.
I am impatient for it. Who is that
Bursts from your house, methinks it is your Daya. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ CLAUDIA. The Prince! Do you really say the Prince--our Prince?
MARINELLI. Who else should it be?
CLAUDIA. Wretched mother that I am!--And her father, her father! He will curse the day of her birth. He will curse me.
MARINELLI. For Heaven's sake, Madam, what possesses you?
CLAUDIA. It is clear. To-day--at church--before the eyes of the All-pure--in the presence of the Eternal, this scheme of villainy began. (To Marinelli.) Murderer! Mean, cowardly murderer! Thou wast not bold enough to meet him face to face, but base enough to bribe assassins that another might be gratified. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ It is a templar who eggs on your patriarch?
FRIAR.
It scarcely can be other, for a templar
Talked with him just before, and what I heard
Agreed with this.
NATHAN.
But there is only one
Now in Jerusalem; and him I know;
He is my friend, a noble open youth.
FRIAR.
The same. But what one is at heart, and what
One gets to be in active life, mayn’t always
Square well together.
NATHAN.
No, alas, they do not.
Therefore unangered I let others do
Their best or worst. O brother, with your book
I set all at defiance, and am going
Straight with it to the Sultan.
FRIAR.
God be with you! ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing

“ Sir William Sampson, Waitwell.
SIR WILLIAM. My daughter, here? Here in this wretched inn?
WAITWELL. No doubt, Mellefont has purposely selected the most wretched one in the town. The wicked always seek the darkness, because they are wicked. But what would it help them, could they even hide themselves from the whole world? Conscience after all is more powerful than the accusations of a world. Ah, you are weeping again, again, Sir!--Sir!
SIR WILLIAM. Let me weep, my honest old servant! Or does she not, do you think, deserve my tears?
WAITWELL. Alas! She deserves them, were they tears of blood. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

“ Thy father shall remain to thee.
RECHA.
None, none.
TEMPLAR.
None, none—then I’m deceived. What we don’t fear
To lose, we never fancied, never wished
Ourselves possessed of. But ’tis well, ’tis well.
Nathan, this changes all—all. Saladin,
At thy command we came, but I misled thee,
Trouble thyself no further.
SALADIN.
Always headlong;
Young man, must every will then bow to thine,
Interpret all thy meanings?
TEMPLAR.
Thou hast heard,
Sultan, hast seen. ”

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Biographical details

Quotes by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Common terms

Works by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Similar authors

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature