At the Edge of Faery and Earth

At the Edge of Faery and Earth

 

Many beautiful women, many different colors

Eyes, skin, hair, souls, auras, spirits, souls — All unique

All I love, in some way or another — More or less

Yet united by a common goal of making the world

 

Creating a better society and environment for the future

Sometimes I think I do not deserve to be in their company

I mostly just fight monsters — They create life and order

In chaos, magic in the midst of stagnation, balance

 

Time passes, generations of human families, on the borderlands

Between the higher and middle words, Earth and Faery

 

Gaia walks with me and tells me of her past lives

As we try our best to positively influence the course

Of history on Earth and in the material universe beyond

 

There are always dark forces that are jealous and resentful

Ignorant or sorrowful — Both inside us and in the worlds outside

Yet there is always hope for redemption in the conflict between

Good and evil — The sides are not always clearly defined

 

And there are always more than two sides between chaos and order

Left and right, male and female, light and darkness, all combined

The Tree of Life and Consciousness uniting the worlds above and below

The play of the cosmos, setting and living landscape, Eldren

In the in-between world, anything is possible — Here, home, and even beyond

Dance of Life

Dance of Life

Sometimes it is hard to know

Who to follow, who to oppose

Which side of a conflict is correct

Most right, or at least less wrong

Each has another side, and another after that one

In the relatively distant future

Things are even more difficult

To understand how to choose

What is right, missing a hundred years

Context — Progress of history, change

Of ideas and ideologies, factions and organizations

Of power and authority — Leaving aside questions

Of how I am where I am now, at this time

More importantly, when I am — This new world

Offers almost undreamed of possibilities

Yet unknown dangers as well, but I cannot say

I regret waking up here and now, though I do miss

The people I left behind — As far as I can tell they are gone

But perhaps there is a way for me to see them again

If I can find out how I came to be here and now

One hundred years distant from everyone I once loved

Organizations of darkness, banal evil in service to horrible goals

And ideals — Extra-dimensional creatures without compassion or ethics

Or at least from a human perspective, except in the peculiar culture

Of the darkness beyond — Our Universe of Light and Darkness

Mingle together — Forms of life completely alien to us

Except perhaps in some of our nightmares, hells — Giant insects

Communities of organization without joy or art or love

At least from our perspective — Some form of love exists there no doubt

And the swirling chaos of apparently infinite darkness, with only a little

Light — And there are some figures of light and wisdom that have dealings

With the dark powers, for their own inscrutable goals, reasons beyond

Our understanding, for now — Out of darkness comes the light

Yet within the darkness continues in its almost infinite varieties

Forms of diversity — Doorways exist between our two worlds

Universes — Guarded by agents of order and chaos, light and darkness

Sometimes close to doorways between the higher realms of pure consciousness

And our Universe — Life and love have transcended all material barriers

Deep darkness of the void beyond our dimension of mixed light and darkness

Combines in the Dance of Life with Light, the five worlds of Eternal Love

The darkness frightens us and yet exhilarates us, providing a source

And destination for all that we do not like about ourselves, others

Our world and cosmos working out the complexity and simplicity of life

In the Universe we call home, in the perhaps infinite expanse of space

Material World — Where beauty in the spiral and circle of time plays out

Evolution Growth Change

Evolution Growth Change

 

Looking back at my past life

Mistakes that seemed unforgivable

Crises that threatened to destroy everything

Or so I thought — My place in the world

And Universe — Now seem small and inconsequential

In retrospect — Except in how they shaped my evolution

And development as a human being

Small and large — Sometimes in ways that I only now

Understand and only partially grasp

 

I can’t blame anyone else but myself

Yet I can explain by describing how others

Might have been wrong, at least in regards

To what would be best for me — Yet who can say

How even the smallest changes in one life

Might positively or negatively affect the future

Present, now — A trillion trillion combinations

Of moments and choices over the course of human

History — And my own — Even if I have only lived

Once, my soul — There is almost an infinity of alternatives

Parallel courses of history, all existing simultaneously

Until the present moment — And choice — Love and life

Time — In my own life and the life of the world — Universe

 

Who can tell if I am not in fact better for all my mistakes

My parents, grandparents, ancestors from all over the world

The ambiguity and uncertainty in my own life and mind today, tonight

Might not be such a terrible thing after all — As long as it does not

Cripple, the door to the void open too much, more than just a crack

Some evolution along with the involution, meeting in the present moment

Future present for every living being sharing the world of possibilities

Growth and change, spiral life, and the arrow and circle of time

The maps in my head can be useful but discovery and exploration

Landscape of my mind and environment, greater and more wondrous

Than even my dreams — The maps help me when I get lost

Sometimes even helping me find the right path, or at least realize

I was on the wrong one in the past, and I can choose a different one

Perhaps even one from a long time ago, in the future past

That is yet new to me now — As long as I am moving forward

With an open heart and mind, in balance with my true self and the cosmos

Nature, love — The forces of order, chaos, and balance between the two

The Universe of Universes and the world we all inhabit, one of many

I am content and maybe even happy, for now — I must train myself

To be alright with the uncertainty and productive chaos of the world

That can be a blessing and not just a curse — As long as I keep

Trying to find some kind of order here, there — Truth within

Myself, if I have the right keys to understanding the all in all

The world and my place in it — Life continues ever onwards

 

As long as life continues on — And we learn from our mistakes

Become better stewards of the Earth and Air and Water — Soul

Of nature, fire of spirit — Humanity — We are only at the beginning

Of our history as a species, only limited by our imagination as a species

Imaginations or lack thereof — Our petty rivalries, ancient quarrels

Among groups of people, desire for power over others, outdated ideas

Ideologies of rigid control or complete freedom without consequences

No order at all — Out of balance with ourselves and nature

Yet we are learning — The old ways that no longer work fade away

With time and evolution of the human mind and spirit towards the source

Giving consciousness, room to new ways of organizing life and spirit

Some so old that they are completely foreign to us, some completely new

Ancient and future paradigms that can allow us to live in harmony

With ourselves and the Universe as one entity experiencing itself, ourself

Becoming aware of all aspects of existence and reality — Life and love

No greed or lust for power over one another and the planet

Belonging to the land, water, air, and sky, more than the other way around

 

Using our intelligence and wisdom to perform a sacred duty of helping

Life to flourish in ever more diverse and beautiful forms on Earth

And when we are ready, planets beyond our own solar system

Stars and galaxies far out in the infinite darkness, blue and white

Calling to us and keeping us company at night — Giving our sun a break

Dimensions and worlds within the deepest parts of our souls, of stars

And in the vast emptiness of space and time, yet almost bursting with light

Meaning and light even in the deepest darkness, the spark of life

Uniting and bringing together disparate individual souls

Throughout the Cosmic Ocean — Binding and bridging our Universe

With each part of itself, realities beyond this physical realm

Dimension, parallel universe — Doorways of consciousness

We can access with the right keys, and the knowledge of where they are

Awareness of the multiple forms of life, light, love everywhere

Inside us and outside our souls, all around us — Beyond

There is always more to discover and explore, always more

Beyond and within our own mind, body, and spirit — Our souls

Connected to the universal cosmic consciousness and awareness

Sailing Through Time on a Cosmic Ocean of Eternal Love

Sailing Through Time on a Cosmic Ocean of Eternal Love

 

Time travel, inhabiting my future self

Learning about alien species visiting Earth

Changing history by following along with myself

Leaving clues and signs for me to find later, earlier

Creating a small army of freedom fighters

Anarchists, socialists, communists united by vision

Of a world free from hunger, injustice, oppression

Taking the best of what the aliens have to offer for humanity

Replacing the old order and hierarchies of power

In the shared goal of making humanity a galactic citizen

Universal belonging, working for peace, justice, stability

And innovation — A bright future of light, life, love for all

Here, and beyond in the vast emptiness of space, other worlds

Transforming humanity’s basest instincts into higher callings

Dedication to truth, perfection, understanding of complexity

Instead of war, violent conflict, extreme competition beyond play

Shared resources, knowledge, wisdom — An Utopia — Life without fear

Problems we take for granted now, in the past, before

The Others come, who are yet to come, yet always here

Bringing new knowledge and wisdom that is yet old

Kept safe by elders of ancient cultures, carried on by future generations

Waiting for the day when they could share with all

Humanity suddenly confronted with the reality

That we are not ever truly alone in the Universe

For better or worse, and there are new, better ways of doing things

Organizing ourselves not only to survive

But thrive, and become full members of the community

Of the Universe of Universes — All times and places linked

By the knowledge and wisdom of the Elder Races

Guides and sometimes exploiters of the younger ones

Humanity — We must evolve and transform ourselves

Into something greater and more beautiful than we can imagine

Undreamed of, except by a few — The ones with love and peace

In their hearts and minds, those who are the storytellers

Artists, poets, philosophers — Leaders of thought and feeling

Those of gentle soul and also fierce passion for change and progress

Changes

Changes

Looking out my window at the treeline, from past to future

What once was diminished by imbalance and progress

Now lives free and true, a century of uninhibited growth

And flowering — All of the people I loved are gone

Taken by time and circumstance and the promise

Of a better life far away, in the Mega Cities and even beyond Earth

The mistakes of the 20th century have been fixed

Balance between humanity and nature has been restored

My home is a paradise on Earth, and most every change has been good

Yet I can’t help but wish that I could see some of my old friends

Earth Family — Soul mates, especially the ones I dream about

The World of the Future

The World of the Future

 

Advanced technology and more wisdom to go with

The ever changing human spirit, that yet remains

The same essential nature, better than it used to be

Better than things once were overall — The Hero

And Heroine — Come into the world to save us all

Yet we are all heroes, literally and figuratively

 

I awake and it is the future — One hundred years have passed

While I slept — Now I am in a world I barely recognize

Though the landscape remains essentially unchanged

Everything else is different: people, buildings, transportation

Not just in the Mega Cities, but also where I live at the edge

Of the misty mountains and its temperate rainforest

What once was a national park and is now a global one

Still the most diverse collection of communities of life

In the world — An ecosystem held in trust for the future

Generations to come, that have already come, for me

A traveler from the distant past unaware of how I came to be

Here now in the 22nd century of the common era

 

And outside the global park, as well as inside the borders

Free, plentiful, and clean energy available for everyone

The Sun, Wind, Earth, Water, and Cosmic forces of Sky

Harnessed for the benefit of all, with no cost or restriction

For those who use energy for heating, traveling, growing food

Essentially a paradise compared to the past, yet with some problems

Even in Utopia — But no hunger, poverty, or institutional injustice

A global government with local control through democratic means

And different styles of living in the hundreds of Mega Cities

Spread out over Planet Earth, unique yet unified by common interest

Peace and stability, order within the chaos of life and ever-increasing

Knowledge and wisdom about life, the universe, and the cosmos beyond

 

And in our space-time ship that I am lucky enough to have access to

Our first priority is to our home planet, and the stars and planets in our galaxy

And the stars and planets in galaxies beyond our own

Home — In all dimensions, universes, worlds connected

Parallel, alternate, pocket within and yet outside

The physical universe we call home

Even though I can go back to the world I once knew

The time of great transition at the beginning of the 21st century

I am not ready yet — There are so many beautiful and amazing things

Left to see, learn, and do in this new world of the future, yet now present

Between Earth and the Universe of Magic

Between Earth and the Universe of Magic

 

Castle at the edge of Sky — A gateway

To a world with castles floating in Sky

Faery, magical possibility and source

For many strange and wondrous things on Earth

 

And people of the moon and stars

Sharing our Sun, yet in a different dimension

Parallel universe — Connecting to many versions

Of Earth, alternate timelines — Infinite possibilities

 

Peace, Love, and Understanding — Ideals for an optimal real time future

A world that we all share without poverty, hunger, or injustice

An example for the Earth and the World of Faery

Balance and peace in both realms, dimensions bridged by the centers of power

 

Half influenced by Earth, and half by the magical land beyond yet near

The sources of material nature and magic, and the human world’s mythologies

Leaving My Past

Leaving My Past

 

We part as friends, at least not enemies

The crimes I committed to make her happy

Have made us both rich, yet in hiding

From bad people, who do not want me to leave

The life I have lived, my role as a thief

And all-around criminal — No matter how

I justified what I did, I know it was wrong

So now I am trying to make up for lost time

I give Helen half of what I have hidden away

The rest to my family and friends — Atonement

 

She keeps the other treasures I gave her, but I can always

Find more — The quest and journey are half of the prize

Medicine that can heal the world and restore balance

The Message, or one of many — All times and yet only one

Mythic Dreamtime — The ever expansive present moment

 

Echoes of the past and future, all happening now, then

The churning of the cosmic ocean, the ordering of the universe

The birth of stars, our star, planet Earth, the moon

All these things in the stories of our world’s mythologies

Retelling them, we recreate those holy moments, the one moment

Our perspective and perception includes that of the outside looking in

Our beautiful and expanding physical universe of billions of stars

Organized in patterns of eternity — Spirals, circles, fractals

Holographic mandalas within mandalas — Worlds within worlds

Universes of light and darkness, connected yet separate from our own

 

The cosmic ocean of all life, containing all possibilities and universes

Hierarchy of organization bringing order out of chaos and back again

The cosmic drama of eternal conflict, yet also resolution of opposites

The mythic time of coming together between left and right — The Lovers

Only once yet again and again, the eternal moment of initiation

Into the mysteries of the universe and worlds of light and darkness

Beyond our own world — The beauty of nature everywhere, yet nowhere

As sweet as home, wherever we feel our heart to be — Here or there

Planet Earth — A global community of races, species, philosophies

We must work together in a natural way — The way the ancients have left

The many ways that are one, towards one destination and source

Discovery — A Long Journey

Discovery — A Long Journey

 

Spiritual sky inside and outside my soul, the world

Wind and rain in my heart and in my mind

Consciousness is everything, and everything else

Yet different, distinct — Diversity within unity

 

The Great House in the foothills of the mountains

With good farmland, and a castle on top of one of the mountains

Visible from every direction all around

Some of the students who live in the house go up to the castle

From time to time, if they need to consult the library there

Or meet with one of the Wizards of Light, or even an Elder One

A god or demon living on Earth temporarily or permanently

In this magical land halfway between the physical universe

And the World of Faerie, the dimension of old magic close to Earth

The Earth we know in our normal everyday lives, of business and politics

Yet this strange land separate yet connected to Physical Earth

Has its own politics and struggles for power and influence

Over the ancient secrets and knowledge held by the Wizards and Witches

In the magical library, and in the underground city below the mountains

Secrets that in the wrong hands could be disastrous for Earth

And all of the worlds, dimensions, universes connected to Earth and Faery

This mystical land is surrounded by mountains, isolated from the outside

World of material reality — Where subtle and obvious magic shows itself

In everyday life — The mere presence of the ancient beings of great power

Makes time pass differently than in the world of waking reality outside

In the city beneath the mountains are doorways leading many places

Secret tunnels connect with other sites of great power on Earth

Home to all manner of strange and beautiful creatures, artifacts

Of ancient races, futures past — Left by explorers when they traveled

To worlds, dimensions, and universes beyond the known, the physical

Even Faery, other realms connected with Earth — The land of the Sun

Moon and rain and wind — Meeting place for whole galaxies

The Multiverse of universes, timelines — Parallel, alternate, pocket

And beyond — A temperate rainforest of exquisite beauty

Thousands of shades of green in spring and summer, orange and red

In autumn — Surrounding the small town, the great house, the school

For young wizards and witches of light, and the castle above

And its peerless magical library — Intricately linked with the course

Of human history and the future of planet Earth — Though isolated

One of many places of ancient knowledge and wisdom from past and future

Home of the Keepers of Balance, Guardians of the Crossroads — Doors

And windows to perhaps an infinity of dimensions, worlds, universes

All connected to the one we know as our own — Even dreams of all life

Available to those who know the right door, and have the correct key

Worlds of light and darkness — Paradises and nightmares, heavens and hells

All with their particular place in the cosmic hierarchy and circle of life

Fractal spiral organization of spiritual, energetic, and physical realities

Holographic colocation of worlds — Yet separated by great distance

Of thought and energy, space and time, depending on perspective, perception

Knowledge of how to bridge the space between dimensions and worlds

The Wizard City, above and below the earth’s surface, is one nexus

Crossroads for the earth and the Milky Way and local universe

Yet the Wizards and Witches do not let this great power go their heads

They serve at the will of the elder races, the council of gods and demons

In charge of the gateways inside the Earth to and from other worlds

Even the farmers can visit other worlds if they have the inclination

And the permission of the gatekeepers, the various forces of dark and light

As long as the Balance is maintained, both sides remain happy, or at least

Content with compromise, shared power and control of Earth and dimensions

Universes beyond, yet connected to Earth — Into this world of magic

And infinite possibility, isolated yet connected to the rest of Earth

Power and influence over all worlds and people, it is possible for others

Outsiders to enter the hidden city, if they know the ways in and out

People all over the Waking World are called by circumstance, fate

Or destiny, to learn the ways of balance, guarding Earth’s role

In the cosmic drama — Struggles and conflicts undreamed of by most

Yet those who are called must choose a side — Light or Dark — Only

A few rebel and attempt neutrality, go into business for themselves

Playing both sides against each other for moral, ethical, philosophical

Or plain material reasons — Wealth and influence, measured in knowledge

Of the Elder Ones — Ancients — Arbiters of human destiny

And that of the Multiverse connected to Earth — A center

Of life, love stories spanning across galaxies, dimensions

Of Heaven and Hell, good and evil, light and darkness, order and chaos

The Underground City

The Underground City

 

Finding what is lost, or perhaps hidden

Congratulated by criminals, then attacked

For some things are meant to remain

Lost — Yet we want to discover them

Mystery that gives life meaning

More than remaining content

With the banalities of well-ordered

Existence — For at least a little while

We crave moments of adventure and exploration

Changing and growing — Becoming

Always within the great mystery of the Universe

Infinite possibilities — Borderland between worlds

Gates, doors, windows — Crossroads of the Multiverse

Containing the Physical Universe as well — The Underground

Too — City of impossible possibilities — Almost anything

You could want can be found, for a price — That which is free

Is the highest cost — Baby dragons, trolls, elves, even humans

All manner of magical creatures, refugees from the World of Faerie

Sometimes even royalty, carving out their own realm of influence

Close to Earth, the land of the waking and sunlight, mundane reality

They are responsible for many of the wonders here, there

Giving even the most industrial a spark of magic, even in the most

Grey places, especially there, in the corporate boardrooms

Magic is afoot — But there are always rules, as with any great power

And consequences for breaking with tradition and the old ways

But that does not stop those who are greedy for power, fame, love

Exploiting the artifacts and beings from other worlds beyond the physical

For selfish and short-sighted purposes — Ancient wisdom and knowledge

Turned to evil means if not evil ends — But there is always more good

Guardians of the ancient ways and the new as well, working for The Balance

Against unrestrained Darkness inside and outside each individual human

Soul — Light overcoming Shadow — No matter how necessary in small amounts

To preserve and protect Life — The gateway between worlds must remain

Safe from undue influence from creatures of darkness — The Crossroads

World of Dreams, playground for gods, demons, faeries — The Key to the Universe

Revolving around the Earth, focal point of human consciousness — Useful conceit

Protection from outside forces — The elements of wind, fire, water, earth, sky

The  ocean and the shore, the stairway circling upwards to heavenly worlds

And downwards to more earthy realms — The purple dome of the underground city

Architecture of all times and places combined in a strange milieu of mystery

Many cultures, races, beings of light and darkness — Even parallel universes

Different for each visitor, shared for those with strong bonds of friendship

Or antagonism — Love, growing and changing together, alone — Possibility

Becoming, being — Five dimensions, elements — Beyond time yet within all times

Always self-existing, circular — The center of the long staircase — The Star

Eye in the triangle — All that is, was, and shall be — Alone, together — True Love Eternal

Center of the Future: The Game of Love

Center of the Future: The Game of Love

 

We both want to be with you, she says — I love you

And I believe her, and I still love her, just not the same

Kind of love as hers — Longing and deep desire

Threatening to overpower every other waking thought

Obsession — And no escape even in dreams — Needing

To want to be with the other — And we will always love

Each other — No matter what happens, how much pain

And sorrow comes from being apart from you

There is always a way, a possibility for happiness

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Happy Birthday Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German Novelist, Dramatist, Poet, Humanist, Scientist, and Philosopher (Born August 28, 1749) – Wikiquote

Love does not dominate, it cultivates. And that is more. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~

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Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though ’twere his own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German novelist, dramatist, poet, humanist, scientist, philosopher, and for ten years chief minister of state at Weimar.

See also: Faust, and The Sorrows of Young Werther, and the German version of this page.

Contents [hide] 1 Quotes 1.1 Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786-1830) 1.2 Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787) 1.3 Roman Elegies (1789) 1.4 Venetian Epigrams (1790) 1.5 Elective Affinities (1808) 1.6 Faust, Part 1 (1808) 1.7 Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre (Journeyman Years) (1821-1829) 1.8 Faust, Part 2 (1832) 1.9 Sprüche in Prosa (Proverbs in Prose, 1819) 2 Attributed 2.1 From the Memoirs of a Superflous Man (1943), Albert Jay Nock 3 Disputed 4 Misattributed 5 External links

[edit] Quotes

• There is strong shadow where there is much light.
  • Götz von Berlichingen, Act I (1773)

• One lives but once in the world.
  • Clavigo, Act I, sc. i (1774)

• […] misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.
  • Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), May 4 (1774–1787)

• If you inquire what the people are like here,
  I must answer, “The same as everywhere!”
  • Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), May 17 (1774–1787)

• Getting along with women,
  Knocking around with men,
  Having more credit than money,
  Thus one goes through the world.
  • Claudine von Villa Bella (1776)

• When young one is confident to be able to build palaces for mankind, but when the time comes one has one’s hands full just to be able to remove their trash.
  • Letter to Johann Kaspar Lavatar (6 March 1780)

• Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
  Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
  Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
  Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
  • Who rides, so late, through night and wind?
    It is the father with his child.
    He holds the boy in the crook of his arm
    He holds him safe, he keeps him warm.
    • Der Erlkönig (1782)

• Noble be man,
  Helpful and good!
  For that alone
  Sets hims apart
  From every other creature
  On earth.
  • Das Göttliche (The Divine) (1783)

• In der Kunst ist das Beste gut genug.
  • In art the best is good enough.
  • Italian Journey (March 3, 1787)

• A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.
  • Torquato Tasso, Act I, sc. i (1790)

• A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world’s torrent.
  • Torquato Tasso, Act I, sc. ii (1790)

• Untersuchen was ist, und nicht was behagt
  • Investigate what is, and not what pleases.
    • Der Versuch als Vermittler von Objekt und Subjekt (The Attempt as Mediator of Object and Subject) (1792)

• Die Liebe herrscht nicht, aber sie bildet; und das ist mehr!
  • Love does not dominate, it cultivates. And that is more.
    • Das Märchen (1795), as translated by Hermann J. Weigand in Wisdom and Experience (1949); also translated elsewhere as The Fairy-Tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, and simply The Tale]
  • Variant translations:
  • Love does not rule; but it trains, and that is more.
    • As translated by Thomas Carlyle The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily (1832)
  • Love rules (and reigns) not, but it forms (builds and ‘trains’); and that is more!
    • As quoted in “‘Human Immortalities : The Old and the New” by Thaddeus Burr Wakeman, in The Open Court Vol. XX, No. 1 (January 1906), p. 104

• We can’t form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.
  • Hermann und Dorothea (1797)

• The spirits that I summoned up
  I now can’t rid myself of.
  • Der Zauberlehrling (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) (1797)

• One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is the intermixing of different genres.
  • Propylaea (1798) Introduction

• The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads to the highest peaks of art, the other to its lowest depths.
  • Propylaea (1798) Introduction

• In limitations he first shows himself the master,
  And the law can only bring us freedom.
  • Was Wir Bringen (1802)

• One never goes so far as when one doesn’t know where one is going.
  • Letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter (December 3, 1812)

• Patriotism ruins history.
  • Conversation with Friedrich Wilhem Riemer (July, 1817).

• Who wants to understand the poem
  Must go to the land of poetry;
  Who wishes to understand the poet
  Must go to the poet’s land.
  • West-östlicher Diwan, motto (1819)

• For I have been a man, and that means to have been a fighter.
  • West-östlicher Diwan, Buch des Paradies (1819)

• Should I not be proud, when for twenty years I have had to admit to myself that the great Newton and all the mathematicians and noble calculators along with him were involved in a decisive error with respect to the doctrine of color, and that I among millions was the only one who knew what was right in this great subject of nature?
  • Letter to Eckermann (December 30, 1823)

• All poetry is supposed to be instructive but in an unnoticeable manner; it is supposed to make us aware of what it would be valuable to instruct ourselves in; we must deduce the lesson on our own, just as with life.
  • Letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter (November 26, 1825)

• One must be something in order to do something.
  • Conversation with Eckermann (October 20, 1828)

• If I work incessantly to the last, nature owes me another form of existence when the present one collapses.
  • Letter to Eckermann (February 4, 1829)

• The artist may be well advised to keep his work to himself till it is completed, because no one can readily help him or advise him with it…but the scientist is wiser not to withhold a single finding or a single conjecture from publicity.
  • Essay on Experimentation

• Willst du immer weiterschweifen?
  Sieh, das Gute liegt so nah.
  Lerne nur das Glück ergreifen,
  denn das Glück ist immer da.
  • Do you wish to roam farther and farther?
    See the good that lies so near.
    Just learn how to capture your luck,
    for your luck is always there.
  • Variant translation:
    Do you wish to roam farther and farther?
    See! The Good lies so near.
    Only learn to seize good fortune,
    For good fortune’s always here.
  • Erinnerung

• O’er all the hilltops
  Is quiet now,
  In all the treetops
  Hearest thou
  Hardly a breath;
  The birds are asleep in the trees:
  Wait; soon like these
  Thou too shalt rest.
  • Wandrers Nachtlied (Wanderer’s Nightsong)

• Welche Regierung die beste sei? Diejenige, die uns lehrt, uns selbst zu regieren.
  • Which is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves.
  • The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe as translated by Bailey Saunders (1893) Maxim 225

• Amerika, du hast es besser—als unser Kontinent, der alte.
  • America, you have it better than our continent, the old one.
  • Wendts Musen-Almanach (1831)

• Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others,
  And in their pleasure takes joy, even as though ’twere his own.
  Not in the morning alone, not only at mid-day he charmeth;
  Even at setting, the sun is still the same glorious planet.
  • “Distichs” in The Poems of Goethe (1853) as translated in the original metres by Edgar Alfred Bowring

• None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
  • Goethe’s Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science and Art (collected from his correspondence), as translated by Otto Wenckstern (1853)

[edit] Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786-1830)

• Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt
  Der in den Zweigen wohnet.
  • I sing as the bird sings
    That lives in the boughs.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 11

• Wer nichts wagt, gerwinnt nichts.
  Wer nie sein Brod mit Tränen ass,
  Wer nie die kummervollen Nächte
  Auf seinem Bette weinend sass,
  Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte.
  • Nothing venture, nothing gain.
    Who ne’er his bread in sorrow ate,
    Who ne’er the mournful midnight hours
    Weeping upon his bed has sate,
    He knows you not, ye Heavenly Powers.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 13; translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Knowst thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,
  Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket’s gloom,
  Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,
  And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?
  • Bk. III, Ch. 1

• What’s it to you if I love you?
  • Philine in Bk. IV, Ch. 9
  • Variant translation: If I love you, what business is it of yours?

• One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
  • Bk. V, Ch. 1

• To know of someone here and there whom we accord with, who is living on with us, even in silence—this makes our earthly ball a peopled garden.
  • Bk. VII, Ch. 5

• Art is long, life short; judgment difficult, opportunity transient.
  • Bk. VII, Ch. 9

• Die Welt ist so leer, wenn man nur Berge, Flüsse und Städte darin denkt, aber hie und da jemand zu wissen, der mit uns übereinstimmt, mit dem wir auch stillschweigend fortleben, das macht uns dieses Erdenrund erst zu einem bewohnten Garten.
  • The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit – this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.
  • “Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre,” in Goethes Sämmtliche Werke, vol. 7 (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1874), p. 520.

[edit] Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787)

• Seeking with the soul the land of the Greeks.
  • Act I, sc. i

• A useless life is an early death.
  • Act I, sc. ii

• One says a lot in vain, refusing;
  The other mainly hears the “No.”
  • Act I, sc. iii

• Pleasure and love are the pinions of great deeds.
  • Act II, sc. i

• Life teaches us to be less harsh with ourselves and with others.
  • Act IV, sc. iv

[edit] Roman Elegies (1789)

• Tell me you stones, O speak, you towering palaces!
  Streets, say a word! Spirit of this place, are you dumb?
  All things are alive in your sacred walls
  Eternal Rome, it’s only for me all is still.
  • Elegy 1

• I’m gazing at church and palace, ruin and column,
  Like a serious man making sensible use of a journey,
  But soon it will happen, and all will be one vast temple,
  Love’s temple, receiving its new initiate.
  Though you’re a whole world, Rome, still, without Love,
  The world isn’t the world, and Rome can’t be Rome.
  • Elegy 1

• Ah, how often I’ve cursed those foolish pages,
  That showed my youthful sufferings to everyone!
  If Werther had been my brother, and I’d killed him,
  His sad ghost could hardly have persecuted me more.
  • Elegy 2 (First version)

• A world without love would be no world.
  • Elegy 2

• Beloved, don’t fret that you gave yourself so quickly!
  Believe me, I don’t think badly or wrongly of you.
  The arrows of Love are various: some scratch us,
  And our hearts suffer for years from their slow poison.
  But others strong-feathered with freshly sharpened points
  Pierce to the marrow, and quickly inflame the blood.
  In the heroic ages, when gods and goddesses loved,
  Desire followed a look, and joy followed desire.
  • Elegy 3

• I feel I’m happily inspired now on Classical soil:
  The Past and Present speak louder, more charmingly.
  Here, as advised, I leaf through the works of the Ancients
  With busy hands, and, each day, with fresh delight.
  But at night Love keeps me busy another way:
  I become half a scholar but twice as contented.
  And am I not learning, studying the shape
  Of her lovely breasts: her hips guiding my hand?
  • Elegy 5

[edit] Venetian Epigrams (1790)

• All Nine often used to come to me, I mean the Muses:
  But I ignored them: my girl was in my arms.
  Now I’ve left my sweetheart: and they’ve left me,
  And I roll my eyes, seeking a knife or rope.
  But Heaven is full of gods: You came to aid me:
  Greetings, Boredom, mother of the Muse.
  • Epigram 27

• Is it so big a mystery
  what god and man and world are?
  No! but nobody knows how to solve it
  so the mystery hangs on.
  • As translated by Jerome Rothenberg

• Much there is I can stand. Most things not easy to suffer
  I bear with quiet resolve, just as a God commands it.
  Only a few things I find as repugnant as snakes and poison.
  These four: tobacco smoke, bedbugs and garlic and Christ.
  • Epigram 60.

• Much there is I can stand, and most things not easy to suffer
  I bear with quiet resolve, just as a god commands it.
  Only a few I find as repugnant as snakes and poison —
  These four: tobacco smoke, bedbugs, garlic, and †.
  • Variant translation: Lots of things I can stomach. Most of what irks me
    I take in my stride, as a god might command me.
    But four things I hate more than poisons & vipers:
    tobacco smoke, garlic, bedbugs, and Christ.
  • Epigram 67, as translated by Jerome Rothenberg

• Doesn’t surprise me that Christ our Lord
  preferred to live with whores
  & sinners, seeing
  I go in for that myself.
  • As translated by Jerome Rothenberg

[edit] Elective Affinities (1808)

• Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it be securely founded; that it be successfully executed.
  • Bk. I, Ch. 9

• The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity.
  • Bk. I, Ch. 9

• One is never satisfied with a portrait of a person that one knows.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 2

• The fate of the architect is the strangest of all. How often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce buildings into which he himself may never enter.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 3

• Let us live in as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or creditors before we have had time to look round.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 4

• No one would talk much in society, if he knew how often he misunderstands others.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 4

• None are more enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 5

• A teacher who can arouse a feeling for one single good action, for one single good poem, accomplishes more than he who fills our memory with rows on rows of natural objects, classified with name and form.
  • Bk. II, Ch. 7

[edit] Faust, Part 1 (1808)

Main article: Goethe’s Faust

• Was glänzt, ist für den Augenblick geboren;
  das Echte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren.
  • What dazzles, for the Moment spends its spirit:
    What’s genuine, shall Posterity inherit.
    • Prelude on the Stage

• Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht,
  Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder.
  • Age does not make us childish, as they say.
    It only finds us true children still.
    • Prelude on the Stage

• Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt.
  • Man errs as long as he strives.
    • Prologue in Heaven

• Da stehe ich nun, ich armer Thor!
  Und bin so klug als wie zuvor.
  • And here, poor fool! with all my lore
    I stand! no wiser than before.
    • Night, Faust in His Study

• Bin ich ein Gott? Mir wird so licht!
  • Am I a god? I see so clearly!
    • Night, Faust in His Study

• Die Botschaft hör ich wohl, allein, mir fehlt der Glaube
  • The message well I hear, my faith alone is weak
    • Faust’s Study

• Zwey Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust.
  • Two souls alas! dwell in my breast.
    • Outside the Gate of the Town

• Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint.
  • I am the Spirit that always denies!
    • Faust’s Study

• Blut ist ein ganz besondrer Saft.
  • Blood is a juice of rarest quality.
  • (Also translated as:) Blood is a very special juice.
    • Faust’s Study

• Grau, theurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,
  Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
  • Dear friend, all theory is gray,
    And green the golden tree of life.
    • Mephistopheles and the Student

• Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzen leiden,
  Doch ihre Weine trinkt er gern.
  • A true German can’t stand the French,
    Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
    • Auerbach’s Cellar

• Wer Recht behalten will und hat nur eine Zunge,
  Behält’s gewiß.
  • Whoever intends to have the right, if but his tongue be clever,
    Will have it, certainly.
  • (Sometimes translated as:) He who maintains he’s right—if his the gift of tongues—
    Will have the last word certainly.
    • Faust and Gretchen. A Street

• Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
  Mein Herz ist schwer.
  • My peace is gone,
    My heart is heavy.
    • Gretchen’s Room

• Schön war ich auch, und das war mein Verderben.
  • Fair I was also, and that was my ruin.
    • A Prison

• Gut! Ein Mittel, ohne Geld
  Und Arzt und Zauberei zu haben:
  Begib dich gleich hinaus aufs Feld,
  Fang an zu hacken und zu graben,
  Erhalte dich und deinen Sinn
  In einem ganz beschraunken Kreise,
  Ernauhre dich mit ungemischter Speise,
  Leb Mit dem Vieh als Vieh, and acht es nicht fur Raub,
  Den Acker, den du erntest, selbst zu dungen;
  Das ist das beste Mittel, glaub,
  Auf achtzig Jahr dich zu verjungenl
  
  • Good! A method can be used
    without physicians, gold, or magic,
    Go out into the open field
    and start to dig and cultivate;
    keep your body and your spirit
    in a humble and restricted sphere,
    sustain yourself by simple fare,
    live with your herd and spread your own manure
    on land from which you reap your nourishment.
    Believe me, that’s the best procedure
    to keep your youth for eighty years or more.
    
    • A Witch’s Kitchen, Mephistopheles to Faust

[edit] Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre (Journeyman Years) (1821-1829)

• Alles Gescheite ist schon gedacht worden.
  Man muss nur versuchen, es noch einmal zu denken.
  • All intelligent thoughts have already been thought;
    what is necessary is only to try to think them again.
    • Variant: All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.
  • Bk. II, Observations in the Minset of the Wanderer: Art, Ethics, Nature

[edit] Faust, Part 2 (1832)

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Goethe’s Faust. (Discuss)

• Law is mighty, mightier necessity.
  • Act I, A Spacious Hall

• Once a man’s thirty, he’s already old,
  He is indeed as good as dead.
  It’s best to kill him right away.
  • Act II, The Gothic Chamber

• What wise or stupid thing can man conceive
  That was not thought of in ages long ago?
  • Act II, The Gothic Chamber

• I love those who yearn for the impossible.
  • Act II, Classical Walpurgis Night

• The deed is everything, the glory nothing.
  • Act IV, A High Mountain Range

• Nur der verdient sich Freiheit wie das Leben der täglich sie erobern muss.
  • Of freedom and of life he only is deserving
    Who every day must conquer them anew.
  • Freedom and life are earned by those alone
    Who conquer them each day anew (tr. Walter Kaufmann)
  • Act V, Court of the Palace

• Wer immer strebend sich bemüht,
  Den können wir erlösen.
  • Who strives always to the utmost,
    For him there is salvation.
  • Act V, Mountain Gorges

• Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis.
  • All perishable is but an allegory
  • Variant translation: All that is transitory is but a metaphor
  • Act V, Chorus mysticus, last sentence, immediately before:

• Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan.
  • The Eternal Feminine draws us on.
  • Act V, Heaven, last line

[edit] Sprüche in Prosa (Proverbs in Prose, 1819)

• Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art.

• Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.

• Doubt grows with knowledge.

• The greatest happiness for the thinking man is to have fathomed the fathomable, and to quietly revere the unfathomable.

• First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

• A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.

• All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.

• Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine tätige Unwissenheit.
  • Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.

• Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life best.

• Everything that emancipates the spirit without giving us control over ourselves is harmful.

[edit] Attributed

• The fashion of this world passeth away and I would fain occupy myself with the things that are abiding.
  • Quoted in the Preface to The Works of Francis Rabelais (1931), Albert Jay Nock and Catherine R. Wilson (Eds.)

[edit] From the Memoirs of a Superflous Man (1943), Albert Jay Nock

• Niebuhr was right when he saw a barbarous age coming. It is already here, we are in it, for in what does barbarism consist, if not in the failure to appreciate what is excellent?
  • p. 97

• “As Goethe remarked, all eras in a state of decline and dissolution are subjective, while in all great eras which have been really in a state of progression, every effort is directed from the inward to the outward world; it is of an objective nature. I have always believed, as Goethe did, that here one comes on a true sense of the term classic.”
  • p. 184

• “Goethe suggested, in the interest of clearness one might very well make a clean sweep of all terms like classic, modernist, realist, naturalist and substitute the simple terms healthy and sickly.”
  • p. 184

• [Those who make the assumption that literacy carries with it the ability to read] do not know what time and trouble it costs to learn to read. I have been working at it for eighteen years, and I can’t say yet that I am completely successful.
  • Goethe at the age of seventy-nine
    • p. 194

• Man will become more clever and sagacious, but not better, happier or showing more resolute wisdom; or at least, only at periods.
  • p. 214

• Was uns alle bändigt, das Gemeine.
  • That which holds us all in bondage, the common and ignoble.
    • p. 227

• [The next sentence after predicting that great progress is coming:] I foresee the time when God will have no further pleasure in man, but will break up everything for a new creation.
  • p. 273

[edit] Disputed

• If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
  • As quoted in Human Development : A Science of Growth (1961) by Justin Pikunas, p. 311; this might be based on a translation or paraphrase by Viktor Frankl, to whom it is also sometimes attributed.

[edit] Misattributed

• Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
  • Attributed to Goethe by William Hutchinson Murray, in his book The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), this has been shown to be a misattribution at “German Myth 12: The Famous ‘Goethe’ Quotation”, Answer.com and “Popular Quotes: Commitment”, Goethe Society of North America

• I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
  I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration.
  I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
  In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de–escalated, and a person humanized or dehumanized.
  
  • Attributed to Goethe, however, the correct/complete quote:

    I have come to a frightening conclusion.

    I am the decisive element in the classroom.

    It is my personal approach that creates the climate.

    It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

    As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.

    I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

    I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

    In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis

    will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.

    has been shown to belong to Dr. Haim G. Ginott, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers (1972) at “Haim Ginott”, Wikipedia.com and Teacher and Child “Notes from Haim Ginott’s Books”, EQI.org

[edit] External links

• Goethe Extensive Biography – by Worldroots.com
• Weimar Classics Foundation (includes the National Goethe Museum and the Goethe and Schiller Archive)
• Works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at Project Gutenberg (English translations and German originals)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s works at Projekt Gutenberg-DE (in German)
• Poems of J. W. Goethe as HTML/PDF, Directories, Dictionary (in German)
• Goethe and giving style to one’s character
• Exploratory Experimentation: Goethe, Land, and Color Theory
• Large Image – famous painting of Goethe in high resolution.
• Another famous painting

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