Poets From Germany

"The wise Theophrastus lived ninety years, and when he came to die, he complained against Nature because "she has given man so little time to live, and because an honest fellow must die at the very moment when he has begun to comprehend a little the art of life." But — let me remark in passing — I am very far from believing that Theophrastus made the foolish speech which is imputed to him. The people around his bed did not exactly understand what he said, and then some schoolmaster came along, a good while after, and tried to make sense of it, and made nonsense. I would bet that Theophrastus meant neither more nor less than this; that he regretted he had not been wise enough, sixty or seventy years before, to see that he might have saved himself the trouble of studying, as art and science, what Nature would have taught him far better and more surely, without study, if he had had the simplicity of mind to heed her instruction. It was not innocent Nature but his own folly that he blamed, as most men are wont to do in his case; although they might as well let it alone; for what is the use of repentance when one has time left for amendment?"

"Ein Wahn, der mich beglückt, Ist eine Wahrheit werth, die mich zu Boden drückt."

"Noch einmahl sattelt mir den Hippogryfen, ihr Musen, Zum Ritt ins alte romantische Land!"

"I said Philosophy might the rather maintain its place, as healing art for the soul, because then, the well would know that they had nothing to do with it. But as all arts love to make themselves more important than they are, so this art too has found means to impose itself upon all the world as indispensable. Like its sister art, which ministers to the body, it will not allow any one to be entirely well."

"The mouthpiece of the half-inarticulate, all-suggesting music that is at once the very soul and the inseparable garment of romance."

"He is equally great whether his theme be religion, patriotism, or love. As a political poet he is one of the greatest of all time."

"He has no equal in medieval German lyric poetry and perhaps not even in European lyric poetry of the Middle Ages."

"For five hundred years after Walther's death – until Goethe – no German lyric poet was his equal."

"Swer guotes wîbes minne hât, der schamt sich aller missetât."

"Dich heizet vater maniger vil, swer mîn ze bruoder niht enwil."

"Wer kan den hêrren von dem knehte gescheiden, swâ er ir gebeine blôzez fünde, het er ir joch lebender künde?"

"Under der linden an der heide, dâ unser zweier bette was, dâ mugt ir vinden schône beide gebrochen bluomen unde gras."

"The greatest of the Minnesinger, all of whom he surpasses both in the range and in the humanity of his poetry."

"Die daz rehte singen stoerent, der ist ungelîche mêre danne die ez gerne hoerent."

"Owê war sint verswunden alliu mîniu jâr ist mir mîn leben getroumet oder ist ez wâr."

"Diu welt ist ûzen schoene wîz grüen unde rôt und innân swarzer varwe vinster sam der tôt."

"He was known to his countrymen as the Nightingale, but his own sweet-sounding name of Bird's-meadow (Vogelweide) suggests even more directly the pure, true, flute-like strain which he poured into Europe’s choir of voices."

""Sît willekomen herre wirt" dem gruoze muoz ich swîgen, "sît willekomen herre gast", sô muoz ich sprechen oder nîgen. wirt unde heim sint zwêne unschamelîche namen, gast unde herberge muoz man sich dicke schamen."

"Die Liebe wintert nicht; Nein! nein! Ist und bleibt Fruhlingesschein."

"Wer keine Blume mehr liebt, dem ist alle Liebe und Gottesfurcht verloren."

"Das wahrhaft Schöne, Große und Erhabene, so wie es uns in Erstaunen und Verwunderung setzt, überrascht uns doch nicht als etwas Fremdes, Unerhörtes und Niegesehenes, sondern unser eigenstes Wesen wird uns in solchen Augenblicken klar, unsre tiefsten Erinnerungen werden erweckt, und unsre nächsten Empfindungen lebendig gemacht."

"Daz si da heizent minne, Deis niewan senede leit."

"Liebe machet schoene wîp: desn mac diu schoene niht getuon, sin machet niemer lieben lîp."

"Jâ leider desn mac niht gesîn, daz guot und weltlich êre und gotes hulde mêre zesamene in ein herze komen."

"Mir ist verspert der sælden tor dâ stên ich als ein weise vor mich hilfet niht swaz ich dar an geklopfe."

"Lessing had a genuine French talent, and, as writer, went most assiduously to the French school. He knows well how to arrange and display his wares in his shop-window. Without this true art his thoughts, like the objects of them, would have remained rather in the dark, nor would the general loss be great. His art, however, has taught many (especially the last generation of German scholars) and has given enjoyment to a countless number. It is true his disciples had no need to learn from him, as they often did, his unpleasant tone with its mingling of petulance and candour.—Opinion is now unanimous on Lessing as “lyric poet,” and will some day be unanimous on Lessing as “dramatic poet.”"

"Lessing was the literary Arminius who emancipated our theatre from that foreign rule. He showed us the vapidness, the ridiculousness, the tastelessness, of those apings of the French stage, which itself was but an imitation of the Greek. But not only by his critiques, but also through his own works of art, did he become the founder of modern German original literature. All the paths of the intellect, all the phases of life, did this man pursue with disinterested enthusiasm. Art, theology, antiquarianism, poetry, dramatic criticism, history, — he studied these all with the same zeal and with the same aim. In all his works breathes the same grand social idea, the same progressive humanity, the same religion of reason, whose John he was, and whose Messiah we yet await."

"One seldom finds an author who is so pleasant to have to do with as Lessing. And how comes it to be so? Because, I think, he is so sure of himself. All this trivial and comfortable intercourse between a distinguished man and one less distinguished: that the one is a genius and master, the other pupil, messenger, slave and so forth, is here excluded. Even if I strove with might and main to become Lessing’s disciple, I could not, for Lessing has prevented it. Just as he himself is free, so I imagine that he desires to make everyone else free in relation to himself. He begs to be excused the exhalations and gaucheries of the disciple, fearing to be made ridiculous through repetitioners who reproduce what is said like a prattling echo."

"Lessing opposes what I would call quantifying oneself into a qualitative decision; he contests the direct transition from historical reliability to a decision on an eternal happiness. He does not deny that what is said in the Scriptures about miracles and prophecies is just as reliable as other historical reports, in fact, is as reliable as historical reports in general can be. But now, if they are only as reliable as this why are they treated as if they were infinitely more reliable-precisely because one wants to base on them the acceptance of a doctrine that is the condition for an eternal happiness, that is, to base an eternal happiness on them. Like everyone else, Lessing is willing to believe that an Alexander who subjugated all of Asia did live once, but who, on the basis of this belief, would risk anything or great, permanent worth, the loss of which would be irreparable?"

"Eben die Bahn, aus welcher das Geschlecht zu seiner Vollkommenheit gelangt, muß jeder einzelne Mensch (der früher, der später) erst durchlaufen haben."

"... Shakespeare conquered Germany with his word and thought: then England, for the first time, had a voice on the Rhine and by the Danube, and became a force in the growth of German culture. The man who was chiefly instrumental in bringing this about was Lessing. Many educated Germans felt about Shakespeare as he felt, and some of our literary men were working in the same direction in which he worked; but Lessing produced the strongest argument."

"Trust no friend without faults, and love a maiden, but no angel."

"Es ist unendlich schwer, zu wissen, wenn und wo man bleiben soll, und Tausenden für einen ist das Ziel ihres Nachdenkens die Stelle, wo sie des Nachdenkens müde geworden."

"There is a nimiety — a too-muchness — in all Germans. It is the national fault. Lessing had the best notion of blank verse. The trochaic termination of German words renders blank verse in that language almost impracticable."

"Lessing, who chafed under the sense of various limitations, makes one of his characters say: No one must do anything. A clever pious man said: If a man wills something, he must do it. A third, who was, it is true, an educated man, added: Will follows upon insight. The whole circle of knowledge, will, and necessity was thus believed to have been completed. But, as a rule, a man's knowledge, of whatever kind it may be, determines what he shall do and what he shall leave undone, and so it is that there is no more terrible sight than ignorance in action."

"Der Mensch, wo ist er her? Zu schlecht für einen Gott, zu gut fürs Ungefähr."

"Und ein Vergnügen erwarten, ist auch ein Vergnügen."

"If no historical truth can be demonstrated, then nothing can be demonstrated by means of historical truths. That is: accidental truths of history can never become the proof of necessary truths of reason. [...] That, then, is the ugly, broad ditch which I cannot get across, however often and however earnestly I have tried to make the leap."

"The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say: Father, I will take this one—the pure Truth is for You alone."

"Besserer Rat kommt über Nacht."

"Denn zu einem großen Manne gehört beides: Kleinigkeiten als Kleinigkeiten, und wichtige Dinge als wichtige Dinge zu behandeln."

"I, who ne'er Went for myself a begging, go a borrowing, And that for others. Borrowing's much the same As begging; just as lending upon usury Is much the same as thieving."

"Perlen bedeuten Tränen."

"The worst of superstitions is to think One's own most bearable."

"Oh Welt, bei deinen Sachen ist Weinen mehr als Lachen."

"Wie willst du weiße Lilien zu roten Rosen machen? Küss eine weiße Galathee: Sie wird errötend lachen."

"Wo Zorn nimmt überhand, Da steigt ein Nebel auf, Der den Verstand verblend't Und wehrt ihm seinen Lauf."

"Weiber sind zum Zürnen hurtig, und ihr Zorn ist nicht zu sagen, Wenn der Männer|Mann aus ihrer Küche Feuer will in fremde tragen."

"Wenn schöne Weiber bitten, muss man es schaffen doch, Und schöne Weiber bitten, indem sie schweigen noch."

"Die Freundschaft, die der Wein gemacht, wirkt wie der Wein, nur eine Nacht."