Faust, and the Urfaust Quotes

“Medicine, and Law, and Philosophy -
You've worked your way through every school,
Even, God help you, Theology,
And sweated at it like a fool.
Why labour at it any more?
You're no wiser now than you were before.
You're Master of Arts, and Doctor too,
And for ten years all you've been able to do
Is lead your students a fearful dance
Through a maze of error and ignorance.
And all this misery goes to show
There's nothing we can ever know.
Oh yes you're brighter than all those relics,
Professors and Doctors, scribblers and clerics,
No doubts or scruples to trouble you,
Defying hell, and the Devil too.
But there's no joy in self-delusion;
Your search for truth ends in confusion.
Don't imagine your teaching will ever raise
The minds of men or change their ways.
And as for worldly wealth, you have none -
What honour or glory have you won?
A dog could stand this life no more.
And so I've turned to magic lore;
The spirit message of this art
Some secret knowledge might impart.
No longer shall I sweat to teach
What always lay beyond my reach;
I'll know what makes the world revolve,
Its mysteries resolve,
No more in empty words I'll deal -
Creation's wellsprings I'll reveal!”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, and the Urfaust

“Sweet moonlight, shining full and clear,
Why do you light my torture here?
How often have you seen me toil,
Burning last drops of midnight oil.
On books and papers as I read,
My friend, your mournful light you shed.
If only I could flee this den
And walk the mountain-tops again,
Through moonlit meadows make my way,
In mountain caves with spirits play -
Released from learning's musty cell,
Your healing dew would make me well!”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, and the Urfaust

“But who will dare to speak the truth out clear?
The few who anything of truth have learned,
And foolishly did not keep truth concealed,
Their thoughts and visions to the common herd revealed,
Since time began we've crucified and burned”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, and the Urfaust

“What matters creative endless toil, When, at a snatch, oblivion ends the coil?”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“Faust:
Nun gut wer bist du denn?

Mephistopheles:
Ein Theil von jener Kraft,
Die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“Kapalıdır bizim için öbür dünyaya açılan pencere;
Aptaldır, gözleri kamaşarak bakanlar oraya,
Sananlar kendilerine benzeyenler olduğunu bulutların üstünde!
Durmalı insan sapasağlam hayatta ve bakmalı buradan etrafa:
Sessiz kalmaz dünya çalışkan insanlar karşısında!
Ne gerek var sonsuzluğa kaymasına?
Tutulabilir elle, tüm bildikleri.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“Ey gençlik, gençlik, başaramayacak mısın hiç
Tutturmayı salt ölçüsünü mutluluğun?
Ey yücelik, yücelik, olmayacak mısın hiç
Gücün kadar mantıklı?”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“Oysa hissediyorum eridiğimi bir aşk düşünde!
Oyuncağı mıyız rastlantıların?”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust 1-2/Urfaust. Paralipomena. Goethe über Faust

“Blut ist ein ganz besondrer Saft.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“DICHTER:
O sprich mir nicht von jener bunten Menge,
Bei deren Anblick uns der Geist entflieht.
Verhülle mir das wogende Gedränge,
Das wider Willen uns zum Strudel zieht.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust

“Wenn ich empfinde,
Für das Gefühl, für das Gewühl
Nach Namen suche, keinen finde,
Dann durch die Welt mit allen Sinnen schweife,
Nach allen höchsten Worten greife,
Und diese Glut, von der ich brenne,
Unendlich, ewig, ewig nenne,
Ist das ein teuflisch Lügenspiel?”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: Der Tragödie erster und zweiter Teil. Urfaust