Quotes from Goethe's Faust

Hello everyone! I very recently read Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and what a piece of work (apparently written throughout all of the poet's lifetime)! But I think that seems a topic besides quotations. I collected some priceless quotes I thought to share. Enjoy.

"Age does not make men childish as folks tell us
it only finds them children to the end."

"The glorious feelings, those that most we prized,
That made indeed our very life of life,
In the world's turmoil and ignoble strife
Are sear'd and paralysed."

"All that philosophy can teach,
The lore of jurist and of leech,
I've mastered, ah! and sweated through
Theology's dead deserts, too,
Yete here, poor fool! for all my lore,
I stand no wiser than before."

"Art is long, time short."

"[Words] must flow out from the heart.
And, when the soul is touched with passion's flame,
We look around and ask - Who burns the same?"

"Nor past nor future now the soul employ,
The present only constitutes our joy."

Hello,

I was wondering if you could give the page numbers to the quotes you have graciously shared?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marla

Hello,

I was wondering if you could give the page numbers to the quotes you have graciously shared?

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Hello, marla.
Ironic that someone should reply to this thread so suddenly, as I intended on posting more quotes from Goethe, but from another of his works, The Sorrows of Young Werther.
To answer your question, and please pardon my laziness for not re-searching for each quote, but the answer of which you seek really depends on the translator and edition. Sir Theodore Martin translated my copy of Faust, and this translation first appeared in 1908, but underwent re-publishing in 1954.
I apologize that I cannot answer your question more thoroughly and specifically, but if these quotes interest you, I have no doubt that each translation (from German) does not drastically read differently from another.
Good luck!

...und sehe dass wir nichts wissen Konnen...

...and I see that we cannot know anything...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mono

Hello everyone! I very recently read Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and what a piece of work (apparently written throughout all of the poet's lifetime)! But I think that seems a topic besides quotations. I collected some priceless quotes I thought to share. Enjoy.

"All that philosophy can teach,
The lore of jurist and of leech,
I've mastered, ah! and sweated through
Theology's dead deserts, too,
Yete here, poor fool! for all my lore,
I stand no wiser than before."

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Hello! :) Can anyone tell me, from which of the translations of Faust is this quote? Can't find it :(

"Prologue from Heaven"


Those three words are so cool

Almost as cool as "Prelude in the Theatre"

Please help me! :(((

I loved, "I am the spirit that denies"

And this is cool:


MEPHISTOPHELES The modest truth I speak to thee.
If Man, the microcosmic fool, can see
Himself a whole so frequently,
Part of the Part am I, once All, in primal Night,--
Part of the Darkness which brought forth the Light,
The haughty light, which mow disputes the space,
And claims of Mother Night her ancient place.
And yet, the struggle fails; since Light, however weaves,
Still, fettered, unto bodies cleaves:
It flows from bodies, bodies beautifies;
By bodies is its course impeded;
And so, but little time is needed,
I hope, ere, as the bodies die, it dies!

Yes, very cool and very scientific. Not everybody realizes how experimental and sensual Goethe was. Many have mocked the devil, but he did it with scientific detachment and success for the first time in history.

'The eternal Feminine draws us aloft'?

Alas, I have studied philosophy, / the law as well as medicine, / and to my sorrow, theology; / studied them well with ardent zeal, / yet here I am, a wretched fool, / no wiser than I was before."
These lines introduce Faust’s character. He sits in his study and laments that although he has studied all of the world's great knowledge, he feels no wiser from it. These words set up the central motivation of the play, Faust's desire to transcend human knowledge in order to gain divine knowledge. The situation is also a metaphor for what Goethe sees as the conundrum of Modernism, in which mankind relies on strict rationalism instead of striving for a deeper and more divine knowledge to understand the world.

Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie, und Grün des Lebens goldner Baum.

Nobody could invoke colors like Goethe. An argument made with nothing but a palate.

My fav:
Du bist dir nur des einen Triebs bewußt;
O lerne nie den andern kennen!
Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust,
Die eine will sich von der andern trennen;
Die eine hält, in derber Liebeslust,
Sich an der Welt mit klammernden Organen;
Die andre habt gewaltsam sich vom Dust
Zu den Gefilden hoher Ahnen.
O gibt es Geister in der Luft,
Die zwischen Erd´und Himmel herrschend weben,
So steiget nieder aus dem goldnen Duft
Und führt mich weg, zu neuem, buntem Leben!
Ja, wäre nur ein Zaubermantel mein
Und trüg er mich in fremde Länder!
Mir sollt´er um die köstlichsten Gewänder,
nicht feil um einen Königsmantel sein.

Faust-Erster Teil Vor dem Tor

How does it sound translated in English?

I like this one from Faust

Ich bin zu alt, um nur zu spielen,
Zu jung, um ohne Wunsch zu sein.

I am too old just to play,
Too young to be without desire.

Wow I am not even through the first 50 pages and I am filling up my notebook with quotes I love....
I think the irony of this portion of the exchange between Mephisto and Faust is my favorite so far....actually laughing out loud in a crowded coffee shop...brought quite the looks
Mephisto. It's time you let me go! I'll call again soon, and then you can ask me any question you wish.

Faust. I didn't lay a snare for you!
You put yourself into the trap.
A devil in hand is well worth keeping,
it takes a good while to catch one again.

The whole concept of working to attract the Devil, then making fun of it when it is trapped....a whee bit arrogant there Herr Faust? love it...