On etiquette

Goethe saying goodbye to Eckermann in a letter:

I hope you find yourself immersed in silent activity. From here is where experience and knowledge of the world emerge confidently in purity. Farewell.

Goethe presented all the plates, carving roasted poultry with the greatest skill, attentive that we wouldn’t run dry on wine.

In life, a well extended name and an elevated position are positive things. Yet, still with all that I’m renown about, the only thing I’ve learned is to keep quiet when I listen to others opinions so that I may not result offensive. Of course, this would be tremendously boring if I wouldn’t count with the advantage of finding what others think without them knowing what I think.

When I have spoken to someone 15 minutes, I’m willing to listen to him two hours.

On great projects:

Save yourself from all great artistic creation. This evil is suffered by the greatest among us, precisely those whom are blessed with the highest talents and resolute persistence. I have also suffered from this, and I know how much it as affected me. How many things have not remained in the inkwell because of this fault! One hundred volumes wouldn’t be enough to harbor it.

The present moment reclaims its right. The ideas and sensations that arise daily to the poet are what really want and need to be expressed. But when there’s a greater creation in mind, nothing may grow in its shadow: It will reject any other idea and you will waste the most pleasant moments of life. How much effort and mental energy are necessary to round and order a great unity in our inner world!

The universe is so large and rich, and life so varied, that we will never cease to experience moments to compose poetry. But they must always be poetry of circumstance, it’s reality what should give us the setting and subject at hand.

Let’s not say that reality lacks poetic interest, for it is her precisely where the poet is put on trial, demonstrating enough ingenuity to find an interesting face in an ordinary subject.

The elevation of spirit and poetic capacity is something that can’t be denied to new tragic poets. However, the majority of them lack the capacity to accomplish a representation that is both light and full of life. They aspire to something which is beyond their strength, and from this perspective I call them forced talent.

On ambition

Above all, be careful about your own inventions, with these we try to transmit a point of view that has seldom matured in youth.

It is time to open yourself to the joys of life, and the best way is precisely to work on minor subjects.

On nature

He who has inquired into the secret inner life of plants, in the agitation of it’s forces, and the way in which a flower slowly develops, will see it in a very different way, and he will know what he’s looking at.

Goethe spoke at length about the increases and decreases of the barometer, which he denominated “affirmation of water” and “negation of water. He spoke about an inspiration and expiration of earth in function of eternal law.

What use is our cultural education if not to overcome our natural tendencies? Asking people to harmonize with us is a great folly. I’ve never done this. I’ve always seen others as autonomous individuals whom I’ve tried to probe and I’ve wanted to know with all their peculiarities, without seeking additional sympathy. In this way I’ve been capable of treating anyone, and only in this way we might gain understanding of different personalities and obtain the confidence necessary in life. It’s precisely natures different to our that require the necessary containment to interact with them, and thanks to this we stimulate any kind of relationship.

On feedback

[after showing a poem to Eckermann] “Isn’t it good? In a couple of days you may tell me what you think”.

On fractals

Any character, no matter how peculiar, and anything we wish to represent, from a stone to a man, have a universal character. Everything repeats itself, and there is nothing in the world which exists only once.

How to create

Under every poem, write the day in which it was composed. In this way it will serve as a journal for your own virtual circumstances. And that’s not something trivial. I’ve done it for years, and I know what it means.

There are excellent people who don’t know how to improve, or do anything superficially. Their nature requires them to seek depth and calm in each of their endeavors. This kind of talent tends to impatient us, since it seldom satisfies our immediate need. However, it is by this path that the highest peaks are reached.

On solitude

Should I have kept myself away from official and public appearances, I would have been able to spend more time in solitude, being more happy and I would have yielded more fruit as a poet

On generalists

In universities too many things are done, and many of them are useless. Teachers over extend their discipline, taking them well beyond the needs of their students […] No good can come from this. Teaching one thing implies that we neglect another. A smart person will reject all pretensions that distract from him, he will limit himself to one discipline and be efficient in one.

On taste

[Goethe shows only the best engravings to Eckermann] This is how taste is formed. Taste cannot be formed starting from mediocre work, only from the most perfect forms.

On human relations

Goethe spoke about an Englishman who was passing by through Weimar, and pretended to get a divorce as soon as he went back to England. Such nonsense made him laugh, and he mentioned many cases of divorce that had happened because they hadn’t learned to live with each other. “Reinhard of Dresde would frequently be surprised by my stiffness in this matter, when my ideas are much more lax in the rest of matters.

I don’t know how to get along with Wolf if I don’t counter him like a Mefistofeles. On the other hand, if I didn’t do this, I wouldn’t uncover the treasures he carries inside.

On writing

In general, the style of a writer is a faithful imprint of his interior. If somebody want to be a clear writer, let his soul be clear, if someone wants to write in a grandiose style, his personality must be it as well.

On enemies

Enemies from stupidity: they don’t understand and criticize from ignorance. Boring. Enemies from jealousy: people who don’t accept happiness and honorability coming from talent. “If I were unhappy and suffering, they’d leave me alone”. Enemies from lack of success: writers, some talented, who think it’s unfair that they live under his shadow. Enemies with reason: those who have criticized him with justification. He is a human being, not without mistakes. However, sometimes they him for things that have been left in the past. Enemies from diverging opinions: it’s impossible to harmonize with all the variety of tastes and opinions.

On sprituality

At 75 years of age it is inevitable to think about death now and then. To me these thoughts don’t generate any kind of concern: I have the firm conviction that our spirit is completely indestructible, and that it will remain active in eternity. It’s like the sun, which only sets for our earthly eyes, but in reality it never does, because it doesn’t cease irradiating light.