Quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You are aware of only one unrest;Oh, never learn to know the other!Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast,And one is striving to forsake its brother.Unto the world in grossly loving zest,With clinging tendrils, one adheres;The other rises forcibly in questOf rarefied ancestral spheres.If there be spirits in the airThat hold their sway between the earth and sky,Descend out of the golden vapors thereAnd sweep me into iridescent life.Oh, came a magic cloak into my handsTo carry me to distant lands,I should not trade it for the choicest gown,Nor for the cloak and garments of the crown.

You are aware of only one unrest;Oh, never learn to know the

Summary

This quote, taken from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "Faust," describes the internal conflict within the speaker's soul. The speaker acknowledges the presence of two contrasting attitudes or desires. One part of the soul is drawn towards worldly pleasures and desires to indulge in sensual experiences ("clinging tendrils"). However, there is another part that seeks higher spiritual and intellectual pursuits, aiming for transcendence and knowledge of the divine ("rarefied ancestral spheres"). The speaker longs for a transformation that would allow them to transcend earthly confines and experience a more magical and vibrant existence. This quote contemplates the tension between the earthly and the spiritual, highlighting the complexity of human nature.

Topics

World Magic Spirit Escape Unrest

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

Period costume films are fun to discover, but they're not re

Period costume films are fun to discover, but they're not relatable. It's more, 'Wow, that's cool - did it really look like that back then?' Whereas with a comedy, you're like, 'Yeah, that's me, that's my friends.' No matter what, I want people to relate.

After I finished high school I went to Hong Kong and Thailan

After I finished high school I went to Hong Kong and Thailand and spent some time there. Just to get that whole experience of being out of the bubble that I was in from high school in Vancouver, to be able to travel around and be on your own was an amazing experience.

I like to have a thing suggested rather than told in full. W

I like to have a thing suggested rather than told in full. When every detail is given, the mind rests satisfied, and the imagination loses the desire to use its own wings.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich

You are welcome to your intellectual pastimes and books and

You are welcome to your intellectual pastimes and books and art and newspapers welcome, too, to your bars and your whisky that only makes me ill. Here am I in the forest, quite content.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

The beginning of thought is in disagreement -- not only with

The beginning of thought is in disagreement -- not only with others but also with ourselves.

The advice I am giving always to all my students is above al

The advice I am giving always to all my students is above all to study the music profoundly... music is like the ocean, and the instruments are little or bigger islands, very beautiful for the flowers and trees.

Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man

Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.

Truth Love Kindness Generosity

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.

The imagination is never governed, it is always the ruling a

The imagination is never governed, it is always the ruling and divine power.

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the random

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.

I don't believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy

I don't believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately, you die at a very young age, or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It's a mean thing, life.