“I am more and more convinced that poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere and at all times in hundreds and hundreds of men. … I therefore like to look about me in foreign nations, and advise everyone to do the same. National literature is now a rather unmeaning term; the epoch of world literature is at hand, and everyone must strive to hasten its approach.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Conversations with Eckermann (entry for 31 January 1827)

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 185

German writer, artist, and politician 1749–1832

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 185

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