Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

"For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity."

"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 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?"

"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 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."

"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."

"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."

"... 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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"Besserer Rat kommt über Nacht."

"Perlen bedeuten Tränen."

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

"Am letzten Tage glaubte er sich außerordentlich wohl zu befinden, wie er sich aber abends ins Bett legen ließ, befiel ihn die Engbrüstigkeit so heftig, dass er nach wenigen Minuten, sich und den Umstehenden unvermutet, starb."

"Was ihn bewegt, bewegt; was ihm gefällt, gefällt. // Sein glücklicher Geschmack ist der Geschmack der Welt."

"Wenn Gott in seiner Rechten alle Wahrheit und in seiner Linken den einzigen immer regen Trieb nach Wahrheit, obschon mit dem Zusatze, mich immer und ewig zu irren, verschlossen hielte und spräche zu mir: wähle! Ich fiele ihm mit Demut in seine Linke und sagte: Vater gib! die reine Wahrheit ist ja doch nur für dich allein!"

"Welche Freude, wenn es heißt: Alter, du bist alt an Haaren, blühend aber ist dein Geist!"

"Was ist ein Held ohne Menschenliebe?"

"Töne, frohe Leier, // Töne Lust und Wein! // Töne, sanfte Leier, // Töne Liebe drein!"

"Reiz ist Schönheit in Bewegung."

"»Niemand, sagen die Verfasser der Bibliothek, wird leugnen, daß die deutsche Schaubühne einen großen Teil ihrer ersten Verbesserung dem Herrn Professor Gottsched zu danken habe.« Ich bin dieser Niemand; ich leugne es gerade zu. Es wäre zu wünschen, daß sich Herr Gottsched niemals mit dem Theater vermengt hätte."

"Für wohlgerathene Kinder können Aeltern nicht zu viel thun. Aber wenn sich ein blöder Vater für einen ausgearteten Sohn das Blut vom Herzen zapft, dann wird Liebe zur Thorheit."

"Es ist ein Beweis für die wahre, für die richtig verstandene wahre Religion, wenn sie uns überall auf das Schöne zurückbringt."

"Die Menge auf etwas aufmerksam machen heißt: dem gesunden Menschenverstand auf die Spur zu helfen."

"Die beste Anbetung, Prinz, ist dankende Freude."

"Der Rezensent braucht nicht besser machen zu können, was er tadelt."

"Der mitleidigste Mensch ist der beste Mensch."

"Der Begriff ist der Mann; das sinnliche Bild des Begriffes ist das Weib; und die Worte sind die Kinder, welche beyde hervorbringen."

"Der Aberglaube traut den Sinnen bald zu viel, bald zu wenig."

"Wer wird nicht einen Klopstock loben? // Doch wird ihn jeder lesen? Nein! // Wir wollen weniger erhoben // und fleißiger gelesen sein."

"Es hat der Schuster Franz zum Dichter sich entzückt. // Was er als Schuster tat, das tut er noch: er flickt."

"Damit er einst was kann von seinen Eltern erben, so lassen sie ihn jetzt vor Hunger weislich sterben."

"Es eifre jeder seiner unbestochnen von Vorurteilen freien Liebe nach!"

"Der Wille und nicht die Gabe macht den Geber."

"Was hätt' ein Weiberkopf erdacht, das er nicht zu beschönen wüsste."

"Und ist denn nicht das ganze Christentum aufs Judentum gebaut? Es hat mich oft geärgert, hat mich Tränen genug gekostet, wenn Christen gar so sehr vergessen konnten, dass unser Herr ja selbst ein Jude war."

"Nicht die Kinder bloß speist man mit Märchen ab."

"Macht denn nur das Blut den Vater?"

"Kein Mensch muss müssen."

"Jeder liebt sich selber nur am meisten."

""Ich fürchte, grad unter Menschen möchtest du, ein Mensch zu sein verlernen."

"Es sind nicht alle frei, die ihrer Ketten spotten."

"Es ist Arznei, nicht Gift, was ich dir reiche."