Wei Quotes
More Wei Quotes
Ich kann nur berichten, was ich weiÞ. I can only report on what I know.
— 1957 Homo Faber, pt.1.
Ich weiß für mich, daß ich, solang ich mein Erlebnis in Worten zusammenfassen kann, gewiß keine Musik hierüber machen würde.
Gustav Mahler— If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.
— Variant: For myself I know that, as long as I can summarize my experience in words, I would certainly not make any music about it.Letter to Max Marschalk (1896-03-26). Original German text cited from: Blaukopf, Herta (ed.). Gustav Mahler. Briefe. 2nd edition. Zsolnay, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-552-04810-3, p. 171.
Ich bedauere die Menschen, welche von der Vergänglichkeit der Dinge viel Wesens machen und sich in Betrachtung irdischer Nichtigkeit verlieren. Sind wir ja eben deßhalb da, um das Vergängliche unvergänglich zu machen; das kann ja nur dadurch geschehen, wenn man beides zu schätzen weiß.
— I’m sorry for people who make a great to-do about the transitory nature of things and get lost in meditations of earthly nothingness. Surely we are here precisely so as to turn what passes into something that endures; but this is possible only if you can appreciate both.Elisabeth Stopp, trans. Maxim #155
So ist vielmehr der Fall, daß das Volk, insosern mit diesem Worte ein besonderer Theil der Mitglieder eines Staats bezeichnet ist, den Theil ausdrückt, der nicht weiß was er will. [1]
georg wilhelm friedrich hegel— Translation: But it is rather true that the people, in so far as this term signifies a special part of the citizens, does not know what it wants.Sect. 301
Ich besitze von ihm eine seiner Sinfonien, die ich zur Erinnerung an eines der größten Genies, die ich gekannt habe, aufbewahre. Ich habe von ihm nur dieses einzige Werk, weiß aber, dass er noch anderes Vortreffliches geschrieben hat.
joseph martin kraus— Translation: I have one of his symphonies, which I keep in remembrance of one of the greatest geniuses that I have met. I have only this one work, but I know that he also wrote other excellent things.
Du im Voraus verlorne Geliebte, Nimmergekommene, nicht weiß ich, welche Töne dir lieb sind. Nicht mehr versuch ich, dich, wenn das Kommende wogt, zu erkennen.
Rainer Maria Rilke— You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don't even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of the next
moment.You Who Never Arrived (as translated by Stephen Mitchell) (1913-1914)
Dudeism has a lot in common with Taoism, of course, being its philosophical compeer. Taoists, for example, revere the fella I’ve innerduced by the name of Lao Tzu (literally “The Old Boy,” not something most folks where I come from would self-apply); we have “The Dude.” Lao Tzu rejected uptight Chinese imperial society and rode off to the mountains of Tibet, while The Dude rejected uptight American imperial society and became a roadie with Metallica. Lastly and most importantly, Dudeists share Taoism’s wu wei ethos of just taking it easy, man, and rolling with the cosmic flow.
— Inner-duction by Rev. Dwayne Eutsey, The Arch Dudeship of the Church of the Latter-Day Dude
Das weiß ich nicht! He move! I know not, I know not!
— Who: German speaking woman
— Source: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
— Note: Harry has a vison of Voldemort entering this woman's home. Voldemort demands to know where wandmaker Gregorovitch is, but the woman says in German that she does not know, and says he does not live there. Voldemort kills her with a curse.
"It is well said: 'He who lacks a single tael sees many bargains,'" replied Sun wei, a refined bitterness weighing the import of his words. "Truly this person's friends in the Upper Air are a never-failing lantern behind his back."
— "The Story of Ning, the Captive God, and the Dreams that Mark his Race"
