“Among all peoples, the Greeks have dreamt life's dream most beautifully.”
Unter allen Völkerschaften haben die Griechen den Traum des Lebens am schönsten geträumt.
Maxim 298, trans. Stopp
Variant translation by Saunders: Of all peoples the Greeks have dreamt the dream of life the best. (189)
Maxims and Reflections (1833)
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe185
German writer, artist, and politician 1749–1832Related quotes
Leo Strauss (1899–1973) Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservativism
Commenting upon the Aleinu prayer, in "Why We Remain Jews" (1962)
Context: The kingdom is Yours, and You will reign in glory for all eternity. As it is written in Your Torah: "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." And it is said: " And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: on that day the Lord shall be One, and His name One."
No nobler dream was ever dreamt. It is surely nobler to be a victim of the most noble dream than to profit from a sordid reality and to wallow in it. Dream is akin to aspiration. And aspiration is a kind of divination of an enigmatic vision. And an enigmatic vision in the emphatic sense is the perception of the ultimate mystery, of the truth of the ultimate mystery. The truth of the ultimate mystery — the truth that there is an ultimate mystery, that being is radically mysterious — cannot be denied even by the unbelieving Jew of our age. That unbelieving Jew of our age, if he has any education, is ordinarily a positivist, a believer in Science, if not a positivist without any education.
Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer
Philopatris, xxi, as translated in the epigraph, p. 8
The White Stone (1905)
“Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.”
Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist
Source: Fatherhood
“If you have never had a dream, perhaps you have only dreamt to be alive.”
Fausto Cercignani (1941) Italian scholar, essayist and poet
Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Socrates, p. 35
L'Âme et la danse (1921)
“My soul is nothing now but the dream dreamt by matter struggling with itself!”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Eryximachus, p. 27
L'Âme et la danse (1921)
“Upon the brink of the wild stream
He stood, and dreamt a mighty dream.”
Aleksandr Pushkin The Bronze Horseman
Original: (ru) На берегу пустынных волн Стоял он, дум великих полн.
Source: The Bronze Horseman (1833) trans. Charles Johnston.
“People who are most afraid of their dreams convince themselves they don't dream at all.”
John Steinbeck book The Winter of Our Discontent
Source: The Winter of Our Discontent