Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“ I pursued jurisprudence with as much diligence as was required to take my degree with some credit. Medicine charmed me, because it showed nature, if it did not unfold it on every side; and to this I was attached by intercourse and habit. To society I was obliged to devote some time and attention; for in many families I had fallen in for much, both of love and honour. All this might have been carried on, had not that which Herder had inculcated pressed upon me with an infinite weight. He had torn down the curtain which concealed from me the poverty of German literature ”

“ For, even when we have quite sensibly renounced it, we cannot get rid of it: we take pleasure in the charming habit, even if this is to be in an altered manner. Thus it was with me. Although the presence of Frederica pained me, I knew of nothing more pleasant than to think of her while absent, and to converse with her. I went to see her less frequently, but our correspondence became so much the more animated. She knew how to bring before me her situation with cheerfulness, her feelings with grace; and I called her merits to mind with fervour and with passion. ”

“ If, after all, this book had done us some harm, it was this,—that we took a hearty dislike to all philosophy, and especially metaphysics, and remained in that dislike; while, on the other hand, we threw ourselves into living knowledge, experience, action, and poetising, with all the more liveliness and passion.
Thus, on the very borders of France, we had at once got rid and clear of everything French about us. The French way of life we found too defined and genteel, their poetry cold, their criticism annihilating, their philosophy abstruse, and yet insufficient ”

“ However, the enjoyment of the daytime and season in this noble country was more serious and more elevating to the heart. One had only to resign one's self to the present, to enjoy the clearness of the pure sky, the brilliancy of the rich earth, the mild evenings, the warm nights, by the side of a beloved one, or in her vicinity. For months together we were favoured with pure ethereal mornings, when the sky, having watered the earth with superfluous dew, displayed all its magnificence ”

“ We therefore embrace the opposite resolution of getting rid of the French language altogether, and of directing ourselves more than ever, with might and earnestness, to our own mother-tongue.
And for this we found opportunity and sympathy in actual life. Alsace had not been connected with France so long that an affectionate adherence to the old constitution, manners, language, and costume did not still exist with old and young. ”

“ To such distractions and cheerful recreations I abandoned myself the more readily, and even with a degree of intoxication, because my passionate connection with Frederica now began to trouble me. Such a youthful affection cherished at random may be compared to a bombshell thrown at night, which rises with a soft, brilliant track, mingles with the stars, nay, for a moment, seems to pause among them, then, in descending, describes the same path in the reverse direction, and at last brings destruction to the place where it has terminated its course. ”

“ They stood for days, nay, for weeks, without obscuring the pure sky; and even the transient storms refreshed the country, and gave lustre to the green, which again glistened in the sunshine before it could become dry. The double rainbow, the two-coloured borders of a dark gray and nearly black streak in the sky, were nobler, more highly coloured, more decided, but also more transient, than I had ever observed. ”

“ I therefore consider prose translations more advantageous than poetical, for the beginning of youthful culture; for it may be remarked, that boys, to whom everything must serve as a jest, delight themselves with the sound of words and the fall of syllables, and, by a sort of parodistical wantonness, destroy the deep contents of the noblest work. Hence I would have it considered whether a prose translation of Homer should not be undertaken next; though this, indeed, must be worthy of the degree at which German literature stands at present. ”

“ The relation of a lover to the beloved object is so decided, that the surrounding objects are of little significance: the heart, nevertheless, desires that these shall be the suitable, natural, and customary objects. With my lively feeling for everything present, I could not at once adapt myself to the contradiction of the moment. The respectable and calmly noble demeanour of the mother was perfectly adapted to the circle: she was not different from the other ladies. Olivia, on the other hand, showed herself as impatient as a fish out of water. ”

“ As the deer seems just to fulfil its destination when it lightly flies over the sprouting corn, so did her peculiar nature seem most plainly to express itself when she ran with light steps over mead and furrow, to fetch something which had been forgotten, to seek something which had been lost, to summon a distant couple, or to order something necessary. ”

“ If he prints a well-elaborated address to the king or the princes, the Jesuits, who are ill disposed to him as a Protestant, lay wait for him, and show that his terms of expression are "not French."
Instead of consoling ourselves with this, and bearing as green wood that which had been laid upon the dry, we were annoyed at such pedantic injustice. We despair, and, by this striking example, become the more convinced that it is a vain endeavour to try to satisfy the French by the matter itself, as they are too closely bound to the external conditions under which everything is to appear. ”

“ He often relieved himself by leaps and thrusts, gave the reins to his humour, and carried a few of his sword-cuts too far, at which friends and enemies, for the most part, showed themselves indignant; for everyone thought he could play the superior to him, though no one could equal him. A public which only hears the judgment of old men becomes overwise too soon, and nothing is more unsatisfactory than a mature judgment adopted by an immature mind. ”

“ A girl who renounces a man to whom she has not denied her affections is far from being in that painful situation in which a youth finds himself who has gone so far in his declarations to a lady. He always plays a pitiful part; since a certain survey of his situation is expected of him as a growing man, and a decided levity does not suit him. The reasons of a girl who draws back always seem sufficient, those of a man — never.
But how should a flattering passion allow us to foresee whither it may lead us? ”

“ Our life, as well as that whole in which we are contained, is, in an incomprehensible manner, composed of freedom and necessity. That which we would do is a prediction of what we shall do, under all circumstances. But these circumstances lay hold on us in their own fashion. The what lies in us, the how seldom depends on us, after the wherefore we dare not ask, and on this account we are rightly referred to the quia.
The French tongue I had liked from my youth upwards: I had become acquainted with the language through a bustling life, and with a bustling life through the language. ”

“ French literature, then, had grown old and genteel in itself, and through Voltaire. Let us devote some further consideration to this remarkable man. From his youth upwards, Voltaire's wishes and endeavours had been directed to an active and social life, to politics, to gain on a large scale, to a connection with the heads of the earth, and a profitable use of this connection, that he himself might be one of the heads of the earth also. No one has easily made himself so dependent for the sake of being independent. ”

“ He cannot make it right with anybody. In society they consider him vain; as if any one would or could converse with others without some feeling for self and self-complacency! Then, the refined connoisseurs of the world and of language assert that there is in him more of dissertation and dialogue than of conversation, properly so called. The former was generally recognised as the original and fundamental sin of the Germans, the latter as the cardinal virtue of the French. As a public orator he fares no better. ”

“ Since the sixteenth century, the course of French literature had never been seen to be completely interrupted,—nay, the internal and religious disturbances, as well as the external wars, had accelerated its progress; but, as we heard generally maintained, it was a hundred years ago that it had existed in its full bloom. Through favourable circumstances, they said, an abundant harvest had at once ripened, and had been happily gathered in; so that the great talents of the eighteenth century had to be moderately contented with mere gleanings. ”

“ The hope of becoming more and more rational, of making ourselves more and more independent of external things, nay, of ourselves, we could not give up. The word freedom sounds so beautiful, that we cannot do without it, even though it should designate an error. ”

“ Another lady who joined us asked about some novels,—whether Frederica had read them. She answered in the negative, for she had read but little altogether. She had grown up in a cheerful, decorous enjoyment of life, and was cultivated accordingly. I had "The Vicar of Wakefield" on the tip of my tongue, but did not venture to propose it, the similarity of the situations being too striking and too important. "I am very fond of reading novels," she said: "one finds in them such nice people, whom one would like to resemble." ”

“ Among the most venial attempts to acquire something higher, to place one's self on an equality with something higher, may be classed the youthful impulse to compare one's self with the characters in novels. This is highly innocent, and, whatever may be urged against it, the very reverse of mischievous. It amuses at times when we should necessarily die of ennui, or grasp at the reaction of passion. ”

“ Frederica had predicted that I should come; and who does not feel some satisfaction at the fulfilment of a foreboding, even if it be a mournful one? All presentiments, when confirmed by the event, give man a higher opinion of himself, whether it be that he thinks himself in possession of so fine a susceptibility as to feel a relation in the distance, or acute enough to perceive necessary but still uncertain associations. Even Olivia's laugh remained no secret: she confessed that it seemed very comical to see me dressed and decked out on this occasion. ”

“ The slender, well-grown, cheerful old man stood with his light, free manners, venerably before us, and held us worthy the honour of a well-considered address, which he delivered to us in an amiable paternal manner, without a trace of restraint or pedantry, so that we really thought ourselves something for the moment; for, indeed, he treated us like the kings and princes whom he had been so often called upon to address in public. ”

“ We do not meditate on ourselves when we look in a mirror; but we feel that we exist, and allow ourselves to pass. Thus is it also with those moral imitations, in which we recognise our manners and inclinations, our habits and peculiarities, as in a silhouette, and strive to grasp it and embrace it with brotherly affection. ”

“ To us youths, before whom, with our German love of truth and nature, honesty toward both ourselves and others hovered as the best guide, both in life and learning, the factious dishonesty of Voltaire and the perversion of so many worthy subjects became more and more annoying ”

“ The historico-poetical Christian names which have intruded into the German church in the place of the sacred names, not unfrequently to the annoyance of the officiating clergyman, are without doubt to be regarded as small ramifications of the romantico-poetical pictures. This very impulse to honour one's child by a well-sounding name—even if the name has nothing further behind it—is praiseworthy; and this connection of an imaginary world with the real one diffuses an agreeable lustre over the whole life of the person. ”

“ For the multitude, upon whom the effect is to be produced, a plain translation always remains the best. Those critical translations, which vie with the original, really only seem to amuse the learned among themselves. ”

“ Perhaps we might even have resigned ourselves to this, if an evil genius had not whispered into our ears that all endeavours by a foreigner to speak French would remain unsuccessful; for a practised ear can perfectly well detect a German, Italian, or Englishman under a French mask. One is tolerated, but never received into the bosom of the only church of language. ”

“ On both sides of the Rhine, in Hagenau, Fort Louis, Philippsburg, the Ortenau, I found dispersed those persons whom I had seen united at Sesenheim, every one by himself, a friendly, hospitable host, throwing open kitchen and cellar just as willingly as gardens and vineyards,—nay, the whole spot. The islands on the Rhine were often a goal for our water-expeditions. ”

“ If the conquered party loses half his existence by compulsion, he looks upon it as disgraceful voluntarily to part with the other half. He therefore holds fast to all that can recall to him the good old time, and foster in him the hope that a better epoch will return. Very many inhabitants of Strasburg formed little circles, separate, indeed, but nevertheless united in spirit, which were always increased and recruited by the numerous subjects of German princes who held considerable lands under French sovereignty ”