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September 14, 8:44 AM, 2008 · No Comment · Previous · Next  

From Goethe’s Divan

[Image]
Kamaleddin Behzad, Sultan Hossein Mirza in Promenade from Moraqqa’-e Golshan (ca. 1540)

Glaubst du denn: von Mund zu Ohr

Sei ein redlicher Gewinst?

Überliefrung, o du Tor,

Ist auch wohl ein Hirngespinst!

Nun geht erst das Urteil an;

Dich vermag aus Glaubensketten

Der Verstand allein zu retten,

Dem du schon Verzicht getan.

Do you believe that you can turn an honest profit

By passing word from mouth to ear?

Tradition, you fool,

Is indeed a delusion!

You must exercise discernment;

Only reason can salvage you from

This captivity of belief,

Reason which you have already renounced.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Wanderers Gemüthsruhe from the Buch des Unmuths: Rendsch Nameh in West-östlicher Divan (1814) in: Sämtliche Werke, vol. 11.1.2, p. 54 (K. Richter ed. 1998)(S.H. transl.)

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Archive > 2009 > Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

December 2009

THE GENERAL ELECTRIC SUPERFRAUD
Why the Hudson River Will Never Run Clean
By David Gargill

THE MASTER OF SPIN BOLDAK
Undercover with Afghanistan’s Drug-Trafficking Border Police
By Matthieu Aikins

MERMAID FEVER
A story by Steven Millhauser

UNDERSTANDING OBAMACARE
By Luke Mitchell

Also: Dave Hickey and Wendell Berry

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