Explore "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
FAUST (_A lofty-arched, narrow, Gothic chamber_. FAUST, _in a chair at his desk, restless_. ): I've studied now Philosophy And Jurisprudence, Medicine,-- And even, alas! Theology,-- From end to end, with labor keen; And here, poor fool! with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before: I'm Magister--yea, Doctor--hight, And straight or cross-wise, wrong or right, These ten years long, with many woes, I've led my scholars by the nose,-- And see, that nothing can be known! _That_ knowledge cuts me to the bone. I'm cleverer, true, than those fops of teachers, Doctors and Magisters, Scribes and Preachers; Neither scruples nor doubts come now to smite me, Nor Hell nor Devil can longer affright me.
For this, all pleasure am I foregoing; I do not pretend to aught worth knowing, I do not pretend I could be a teacher To help or convert a fellow-creature. Then, too, I've neither lands nor gold, Nor the world's least pomp or honor hold-- No dog would endure such a curst existence! Wherefore, from Magic I seek assistance, That many a secret perchance I reach Through spirit-power and spirit-speech, And thus the bitter task forego Of saying the things I do not know,-- That I may detect the inmost force Which binds the world, and guides its course; Its germs, productive powers explore, And rummage in empty words no more!