Goethe's Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and ArtJohn W. Parker and Son, 1853 - 174 pages |
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absurd action actor admire altogether ancients animal appear artist ascer beautiful become body Byron capital century CEPHALUS character CHARLES KINGSLEY chorus clever colours compelled consider cultivation dramatic EDGAR ALFRED BOWRING English epoch Euripides fancy feel Fraser's Magazine French genius German getic gift give Goethe Goethe's Greeks Heir of Redclyffe Hence human idea impression individuals influence instance Johannes Müller Kreon liberty literature live look Lord Byron Lucretius manner matter means ment mind mode Molière nation nature necessity ness never objects opinions painter peculiar perfect persons philosophy piece plastic art poem poet poetical productive progress racter re-inventor reason respect rock scarcely Schiller sense sentiments Shakspeare Shakspeare's shows Sketch songs Sophocles sphere spirit stand strong style sympathy talent Tartuffe temper things thought tion tree Trento true truth understand wretched youth
Popular passages
Page 122 - Tu dicis quia rex sum ego. Ego in hoc natus sum, et ad hoc veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati; omnis qui est ex veritate, audit vocem meam.
Page 34 - There are three classes of readers : some enjoy without judgment ; others judge without enjoyment ; and some there are who judge while they enjoy, and enjoy while they judge.
Page 116 - Generally speaking, an author's style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first be light in your own mind; and if you would write a grand style, you ought to have a grand character.
Page 82 - Goethe, u is inexplicable; it appears to us as a dream, when we contemplate the works of great artists; it is a hovering, floating, and glittering shadow, whose outline eludes the grasp of definition.
Page 25 - That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us.
Page 97 - And what says the poet himself of that design? " They ask me what idea I wished to incorporate in my ' Faust.' Can I know it ? Or, if I know, can I put it into words...
Page 63 - There is no trifling with nature; it is always true, grave, and severe; it is always in the right, and the faults and errors fall to our share. It defies incompetency, but reveals its secrets to the competent, the truthful, and the pure.— Goethe.
Page 78 - I have never made a secret of my enmity to parodies and travesties. My only reason for hating them is because they lower the beautiful, noble, and great, that they may annihilate it. Indeed, where there is no reality of such, I would still preserve the semblance. The ancients and Shakespeare, while they seem to deprive us of things great and beautiful, create and establish in their place something which is highly valuable, worthy, and satisfactory. Nothing is more terrible than active ignorance....
Page 82 - Mendelsshon, the philosopher, grandfather of the composer, and others, tried to catch Beauty as a butterfly, and pin it down for inspection. They have succeeded in the same way as they are likely to succeed with a butterfly. The poor animal trembles and struggles, and its brightest colors...
Page 40 - ... them. There were fools and sages, long-headed men and narrow-minded men, children, and young and old men and women, that told me how they felt and what they thought, how they lived and how they labored, and what was the amount, and what was the result of their experience. I had but to hold out my hand, and reap a harvest which others had sown for me. It is very absurd to ask whether a man's knowledge comes from himself or from others, or whether he acts alone, or by and through other men. The...