Posted by erik on November 12, 1999 at 03:37:28:
In Reply to: Re: Need a Quote posted by Cyndi Gl on November 08, 1999 at 13:44:01:
Here is what I mailed to Kim, hope
it helps. Regards, Erik
----
Here's what has been discussed on
http://www.killdevilhill.com/goethechat/wwwboard.html ,
a reply by a guy called Rob Roy about this quote.
->
Of the many inquiries about Goethe and Goethe quotations that come to
the Goethe Society of North
America
through the WEB site, the most oft
repeated and vexing one has been a page about boldness, magic, and
providence that certainly
sounded like
Goethe, but eluded our attempts to
track it down. You may recall that in our Fall 1996 Newsletter an editor
at Celestial Seasonings Teas even
offered
some tea in exchange for help in
identifying it. Most inquiries focused on the closing lines: "What you
can do, or dream you can do, begin
it! /
Boldness has genius, power and magic
in it." But some cited a fuller page:
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back--
Concerning all acts of initiative (and
creation), there is one elementary truth
that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that
the moment one definitely commits
oneself,
then Providence moves too. All
sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have
occurred. A whole stream of events
issues from
the decision, raising in one's favor
all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material istance,
which no man could have
dreamed
would have come his way. Whatever you
can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and
magic in it. Begin it now."
Well, it's been found and it is partly by Goethe, in a way. We first
heard from Ellen Todd Hanks, a senior
information service librarian at the Briscoe
Library of the University of Texas Health Science Center. She found a
variant of the final two sentences
in
Stevenson's Home Book of Quotations:
"Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the
mind grows heated. Begin it, and
the
work will be completed."
The lines are attributed to John Anster in a "very free translation" of
Faust from 1835.
They are indeed "very free" writes Katja Moser, who solved a larger
piece of the mystery this May, and
provided a
fuller excerpt from Anster's
translation, where the lines in question are spoken by the "Manager" in
the "Prelude at the Theatre":
"Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting oíer lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Moser points to Faust, 214-30, as the page paraphrased by Anster:
Der Worte sind genug gewechselt,
Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn!
Indes ihr Komplimente drechselt,
Kann etwas Nützliches geschehn.
Was hilft es, viel von Stimmung reden?
Dem Zaudernden erscheint sie nie.
Gebt ihr euch einmal für Poeten,
So kommandiert die Poesie.
Euch ist bekannt, was wir bedürfen,
Wir wollen stark Getränke schlürfen;
Nun braut mir unverzüglich dran!
Was heute nicht geschieht, ist morgen nicht getan,
Und keinen Tag soll man verpen,
Das Mögliche soll der Entschluß
Beherzt sogleich beim Schopfe fen,
Er will es dann nicht fahren len
Und wirket weiter, weil er muß.
Katja Moser also identifies the author of the lengthier page being
attributed to Goethe and, in doing
so, reveals
its connection with John Anster's
inventive paraphrase. She writes:
"The quote as you give it in a larger context seems to be from W. H.
Murray in The Scottish Himalaya
Expedition,
1951. There the text apparently
goes:
"But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important
matter. We had definitely
committed
ourselves and were halfway out of our
ruts. We had put down our page money--booked a sailing to Bombay.
This may sound too simple, but
is great
in consequence. Until one is
committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always
ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of
initiative
(and creation), there is one
elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one
definitely
commits oneself, the providence
moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in
one's favor all manner of
unforeseen
incidents, meetings and material
istance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I
learned a deep respect for one
of
Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"
So, did Goethe say it? Not really. Thank you, Katja Moser, for the
discovery!
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