From Goethe, Conversations with Eckermann (1824)

“I had the great advantage” said he, “of being born at a time when the greatest events which agitated the world occurred, and such have continued to occur during my long life; so that I am a living witness of the Seven Years’ war, of the separation of America from England, of the French Revolution, and of the whole Napoleon era, with the downfall of that hero, and the events which followed. Thus I have attained results and insight impossible to those who are born now and must learn these things from books which they will not understand. What the next years will bring I cannot predict; but I fear we shall not soon have repose. It is not given to the world to be contented; the great are not such that there will be no abuse of power; the masses not such that, in hope of gradual improvement, they will be content with a moderate condition.”

Our own paltry epitaph: that we lived through two Gulf wars, the ‘special relationship’ of America with England, the capitalist revolutions in the East, the Bush era, without downfall. And our philosophical insights correspondingly meagre. This much ties us to the Goethezeit, though: the perennial abuse of power and the discontent of the masses.

Comments

[Name]

Could the image possibly be more explained (for those who remember it)?

[YH]

Yes, it's the Goethe-Schiller statue in Weimar adorned with baskets. Don't ask me why.

[Name]

Thanks. But are you sure they aren't light shades?

[YH]

That would certainly add a new meaning to 'Les Lumières'.